Harry Potter and the Key of Dagon
by Don Sample
Summary: COMPLETE! -- A chance meeting in London leads Dawn into a whole new world she hadn't suspected existed. This story takes place following Chosen and The Order of the Phoenix. (Chapter 2: Lunch has been edited to unfudge Remus Lupin's age.)
1. Introduction

**Harry Potter and the Key of Dagon**

NOTES:  
I decided I wanted to do a Buffy/Harry Potter crossover. I enjoy reading them, the two worlds fit well together, but I also wanted to avoid a couple of the things that have bothered me about many of the previous crossovers I've read: 

1) No one is anyone's long lost relative.  
2) Giles is not a Hogwarts graduate who has been hiding his wand in a drawer for seven years.  
3) Draco Malfoy is a nasty little git. 

I played a little bit with the Harry Potter timeline, to make Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts take place at the same time as season 7 of Buffy. This story starts during the summer following _The Order of the Phoenix_ and _Chosen_. 


	2. Hunter and Cross

Buffy and Dawn walked down a London street together. Dawn noticed a door up ahead, with a small sign that read _Hunter and Cross: Purveyors of Fine Books_ beside it. "We really ought to get something for Giles," she told her sister, "after all it's his money we've been spending." 

"No," said Buffy. "It was the Council's money. Now it's our money." 

"Still, I think we should get him something." Dawn went to the book shop door. "You're super strong, you can carry lots more." She pushed the door open and entered the shop. 

Buffy smiled and followed her sister. Dawn had already loaded her down with the bulk of their purchases and it wasn't even noon yet. Her hands were full—several shopping bags in each—while Dawn just had one small bag in her left hand. 

Buffy's first glance around the dimly lit shop made her feel that she and Dawn were very out of place. Their bright clothes just screamed 'tourist,' but there was nothing touristy about this shop. It took a couple of seconds for her eyes to adjust to the dim lighting and Buffy saw rows of book shelves crammed close together: so close that two people would have difficulty passing each other in the aisles between them. The book shelves along the side walls went all the way to the ceiling, complete with a sliding ladder to reach the upper shelves. 

There was only one other person in the shop. A elderly bald man with his nose in a book, sitting on a stool behind a counter with an antique cash register. Buffy felt a twinge of familiarity. It looked like the twin of the cash register from the Magic Box. The man looked up from his book and frowned at the two girls who had invaded his shop. The expression on his face told Buffy that he didn't think they belonged there either. Then Buffy inhaled and felt strangely at home. The smell reminded her of the old high school library. The musty scent of ancient paper, and fine leather bindings. 

The man was still frowning and watching Dawn as she moved down an aisle, her eyes scanning the shelves. Buffy gave her sister a look, and decided that she needed to do something to reassure the man behind the counter. "You rip it, you bought it," she told Dawn. She looked around a bit more. "And it looks like some of these books would take years for you to pay off, on your allowance." 

Dawn gave her sister a withering glare. "I'm not the one who tried to use a 12th century Papal Encyclical as note paper." She stopped moving down the aisle, reached out, and took a book from the shelf. 

The shopkeeper watched Dawn carefully as she first examined the binding, and then carefully opened the book. She turned slowly through the pages before she closed it and put it back in its place on the shelf. His eyebrows went up a bit and the frown left his face. It was so rare to see a young person who knew how to properly handle a book these days. Seeing it in an American tourist was unprecedented. His eyes moved back to the older blonde girl, and he frowned again. Anyone who would write on a 12th century manuscript bore careful watching. 

The girl flashed him a smile. "Hey, don't worry. I was her age at the time." She pointed to the corner beside the counter, out of the way of anyone trying to move through his shop. "Mind if I stash my bags there?" 

He gave her a nod, and she dropped the bags. He had been about to suggest that she do so anyway. Some of those bags were easily large enough to conceal a volume. He glanced back at the younger, dark haired girl, and decided he didn't have to worry about the small bag in her hand. It wasn't big enough to conceal anything. He went back to watching the blonde as she started to move through the shelves herself. 

Buffy quickly discovered that there were three sorts of books in this shop: ancient, ancienter, and ancientest. The most ancient seemed to be on the upper shelves, only accessible by ladder. She squinted up at them, and frowned. Some of the books on the top shelves, where their bindings would be invisible in the dim light to most people, had familiar titles. She recognised a couple. She knew that copies of those books were now residing at the bottom of what was now known as the Sunnydale Lagoon. The Pacific Ocean had come pouring into the crater created by the Hellmouth's collapse soon after it had happened. The water was almost a thousand feet deep where her house had been. 

Buffy considered asking the man at the counter if he'd mind her climbing up to take a look at the upper shelves, but one look at his frown told her that wouldn't be a very good idea. She decided to file the information away to tell Giles later. She wouldn't be surprised if he'd been a customer here. She directed her attention back to the merely ancient volumes in the shelves more easily reached by someone her size. She didn't want to get Giles anything 'work' related, and she figured these books would be more in her price range anyway. She pulled one ancient looking book off a shelf at random, and looked for a price tag. There was nothing visible on the outside, so she opened the cover to look inside. 

A small file card fell out of the book, and fluttered to the floor. She bent down and picked it up. Something else that looked familiar: a library catalogue index card with all the details about the book, with the addition of its price: £75.95. Of course, they wouldn't be so crass as to actually stick a price tag on one of these volumes. Buffy did a quick mental calculation that she was getting very used to doing: about $110. She was a little puzzled by the notation under the price: 15G 2S 28K. She wondered what it could mean. She replaced the card in the book and replaced the book on the shelf. She tried one of the ancienter volumes, and had her suspicions confirmed. Its price was nearly £200. That card had a notation under the price like the first one had: 38G 15S 28K. 

Buffy noticed that Dawn was having a look at something that fell into the ancientest category, and went to have a quiet word with her about their budget. 

The shop door opened, and a couple more people entered. Buffy hoped that they'd take up some of the burden of the proprietor's glare. At first glance they didn't look like they belonged there any more than she and Dawn. They were both rather shabbily dressed. The man's clothes kinda reminded her of what Giles used to wear during his first year in Sunnydale…after several very bad nights in a cemetery. He seemed to be about Giles' age too, with light brown hair, flecked with grey. His face was gaunt, with a bit of a goatee for a beard. Everything about him seemed worn, like he'd had a very hard life. His tweed jacket had been patched multiple times. 

The second man—he moved away from the glare from the door and Buffy hastily revised that first impression, he was a boy, about Dawn's age—was dressed in clothes that would have fit well on someone twice his size. The wear patterns visible on them told Buffy that the kid wasn't making some sort of grunge fashion statement…they were second hand. The boy had dark unruly hair that kinda reminded Buffy of Xander's, and was wearing glasses with round rims. 

She fully expected the proprietor to glare more strongly at these two than he had at her and Dawn, but he surprised her by smiling brightly. "Remus! Good to see you again!" 

"Good to see you too, Mr. Cross," said the man. "We received a message that you had those books we'd ordered?" 

"Of course! Of course! They're in the back, I'll go get them." Mr. Cross leaned closer to Remus and whispered something that he didn't intend Buffy to overhear. "Keep an eye on those two for me will you?" Buffy smiled to herself and kept browsing. 

Remus stayed by the counter and the boy started to wander through the shelves. He was tall, and thin, and had a curious lightning shaped scar on his forehead. Remus didn't glare at Buffy and Dawn the way Mr. Cross had, but Buffy could tell that he was keeping an eye them. Buffy noticed that the boy didn't seem to be browsing the books or keeping an eye on her. He was checking Dawn out. Buffy saw the way his eyes kept glancing toward Dawn's ass, which was being very well displayed by the tight blue jeans she was wearing. She would have smiled, but her spider sense was tingling. She was getting a vibe off both Remus and the boy. She couldn't pin it down though. 

Buffy had gotten a boost too when they had done the spell to empower all the Potential Slayers all over the world. Her strength hadn't changed much, that she'd noticed, but her senses had improved a lot. Buffy now found that she could sense vampires and other demons the way Giles had always told her she should be able to. She could pick a vamp or a demon out of a crowd at a hundred paces. 

She was getting a feeling off these two. It didn't feel Evil. It kinda reminded her of the buzz she sensed off Willow now. Remus and the boy had magic. She was feeling something else off Remus too, something she couldn't nail down, but something about it said 'friend' which Buffy found very strange. 

The boy was looking like he might risk actually saying "Hi" to Dawn when Mr. Cross came back carrying a plain brown package. 

"Here you go Remus!" Mr. Cross went behind the counter again and pressed some buttons on the cash register. After a nervous glance toward Buffy and Dawn he wrote something down on a slip of paper and slid it across the counter to Remus. 

Buffy watched out of the corner of her eye as Remus reached into an inner pocket of his jacket and pulled out a cloth pouch. He dumped several large coins out of it onto the counter. Mr. Cross dropped them into the cash drawer, and gave back several smaller coins. 

Remus scooped up his change, and dropped it back into the bag. One of the coins missed. It bounced off the counter and scooted across the floor toward Buffy. She stopped it by stomping on it with her foot. She bent down and picked it up. 

Remus was coming toward her, looking embarrassed. Buffy had a quick look at the coin before he got to her. She smiled and held out her hand to him. "Here you go." 

Remus smiled back as he took the coin. "Thank you Miss." He looked at the boy. "Come on Harry, Let's get you some clothes that fit, before we go back." They left the shop. 

Buffy went back to looking at books while she pondered the coin. She thought she'd seen or heard of all the different English coins by now, but what the heck was a Knut? 


	3. Lunch

**Chapter 2: Lunch**

Buffy sat at a table on the outdoor patio of the restaurant that they were supposed to meet Giles at. She sipped her beer, and looked across at Dawn, who had an enormous chocolate milk shake. She wondered how Dawn stayed so thin while eating the way she did. One chair was piled high with their shopping bags, and a plain brown package was sitting in front of the chair that was waiting for Giles. Plain brown was the only sort of gift wrapping that _Hunter and Cross_ would do. 

Buffy took another sip from her beer. She was beginning to appreciate some of Spike's disparaging remarks about American brews. Her spider sense started to tingle again. She glanced up and saw that Remus and Harry were being led by the restaurant hostess toward the only vacant table left on the patio. The one right beside Buffy and Dawn. If Buffy hadn't seen the way Harry's eyes lit up in surprise when he spotted Dawn again she might have suspected that they'd followed them. She also might not have recognised Harry, if it wasn't for his hair and the glasses he was still wearing. He was wearing new, well fitting clothes from head to toe. 

Harry made sure that he snagged a chair facing Dawn. He smiled nervously and leaned toward her. "Er, hi. You're the girl from the book store." He held out his hand. "I'm Harry." 

Buffy saw Dawn suppress the first thing she was going to say—no doubt a pun based on Harry's name—and then she smiled and took his hand. "Dawn. And that's my sister Buffy." 

Buffy smiled and nodded. "Hi." 

Harry smiled back. "Hi. Oh, er, this is Prof— Mr. Lupin." 

Buffy looked at the older man. "You're a professor?" 

"Not anymore," said Lupin. "I'm…retired." 

"Still the best DADA teacher we've had," grumbled Harry. 

"Harry." 

Buffy heard the note of warning in Lupin's voice. "Dada?" 

"Defense Against Dastardly Auditors," said Lupin. "It was a bit of a joke. I taught accounting." 

"Oh," said Buffy, but she caught the look that Harry was giving Lupin. She suspected that DADA stood for something else. She couldn't imagine what, though. 

"There you are Buffy!" 

Buffy looked around, "Giles! Hi, have a seat." She then got the biggest surprise she'd had since Angel had shown up in the Guardian's temple. 

"_Rupert?_" asked Remus Lupin. "_How are you doing, you old Muggle?_" He stood up and held out his hand for Giles to shake. 

"Remus! Good lord, what are you doing here?" Giles took his hand and shook it enthusiastically. 

Buffy was having mixed feelings about this reunion. While Giles was obviously delighted to see Lupin, they'd had trouble in the past from people who knew Giles and then showed up out of the blue. "So, you guys are old pals, huh?" she asked out loud. 

"Oh, he worked for me while I was at the British Museum," said Giles. "One of my old professors at Oxford introduced us. He was a great help to me. Very knowledgeable about all sorts of mythical creatures." 

Buffy raised her eyebrow at Lupin. "Accounting, huh?" 

"No one will _pay_ me to teach about mythical creatures," said Lupin, with a very straight face. Buffy saw Harry try to suppress a snort. Lupin smiled at him. "Rupert is very knowledgeable about mythical creatures too. The school library even has some copies of his book. Very good, for a Muggle. It's on the recommended reading list for a few of your classes." 

"What were you doing at the British Museum?" asked Harry. He seemed surprised by this bit of information about Lupin's past. 

"After everything that happened, I needed to get away from…things for a while," said Lupin. Buffy noticed Harry's jaw clench a bit at that statement. "The headmmaster has friends everywhere. He arranged it for me." 

"What's a Muggle?" asked Dawn. "Is that one of those English insults like 'prat' or 'pillock?' I don't think I ever heard Spike use it." 

"I don't know what it means," said Giles. "Remus here just smiles whenever I ask him." 

Remus smiled, and said nothing. 

"_Still_ won't tell me, eh?" asked Giles. "How about a question you will answer: What brings you to be chatting with my old student here?" 

"We kinda met in _Hunter and Cross_," said Lupin, "and my old student Harry here took a shine to Dawn. Then we bumped into them again here, and he started to chat her up." Buffy laughed as Harry and Dawn both turned red. 

"_Hunter and Cross_ are still in business?" asked Giles. "They must both be in their 90s by now." 

"Oh, they've retired," said Lupin. "'Young' Norman Cross is running the shop now, and being very suspicious of these young ladies. They aren't his usual sort of customers." 

Buffy pointed to the package on the table. "We bought you a present. Now I understand why it seemed like such a 'you' sort of place. I was going to tell you we could get some of the books we lost there." 

"You _lost_ books Rupert?" asked Remus. "I thought that was impossible." 

"That sort of thing can happen when you have to leave town so fast that you couldn't even pack clean underwear," said Giles. 

"A couple of people on that bus could have used the underwear," muttered Dawn to Harry. 

"Not getting into trouble again, and having to run from the law?" asked Lupin. "I thought you grew up." 

"Not the law this time," said Giles. "More like a bloody great hole in the ground swallowing the city underneath us." 

"You were in Sunnydale?" 

"Yep," said Buffy. "The outside world finally noticed us. After everything else, all it took was a five mile wide sink hole opening up and swallowing it." 'Sink hole' was what all the news reports about the collapse of the Hellmouth called it. "We were on the last bus out. I almost missed the bus." 

Harry gave these Muggles a closer look. Something about their attitude told him that they knew that the 'sink hole' story was a crock. The collapse of the Hellmouth in California had been big news in the wizarding world. It had even crowded the news about Voldemort's return off the front page of the _Daily Prophet_ for a day. (Mostly because there really wasn't anything new to report about Voldemort. After the attack on the Ministry of Magic, he'd gone back into hiding.) There had been a great deal of concern that the collapse of the Hellmouth was a portent for something worse that was about to happen, perhaps some new assault by Voldemort, but when nothing further happened, it was quickly relegated to the back pages. Mostly the humour section, where people made fun of the Muggle 'sink hole' theory. Of course when you really looked, it was plain that no one in the wizarding world had a clue about what had really happened there either. 

They rearranged the tables so they could all sit together, and Giles and Lupin ordered themselves beers, after making their waitress tell them all the varieties available. Harry just pointed to Dawn's milkshake and told the waitress that he'd have one of those. 

They spent the lunch with Remus telling stories about Giles in his younger days, and Dawn telling the story of racing through the streets of Sunnydale in a school bus with her watching the street crumble away behind them. (She left out the really exciting bits about Buffy leaping from building to building as they collapsed underneath her, and just why they'd stayed in Sunnydale right up to the last possible second.) At the end of the meal Harry worked up the nerve to ask Dawn if she wanted to join with him and some friends who were going to see their first 'Muggle movie' tomorrow afternoon. 


	4. Movies

Harry had arranged to meet with Dawn in her hotel lobby just after lunch the next day. She found him there with another girl, with bushy brown hair. 

"Hey Dawn," said Harry. "This is Hermione Granger. Hermione, Dawn Summers." 

"Hey!" Dawn waved to Hermione. "I thought you said there'd be more of us?" she asked Harry. 

"We're meeting Ron and Ginny in front of the Cauldron," said Harry. "They're running late, as usual, so we told them we'd meet them there after we came to collect you." 

"The Cauldron?" asked Dawn. 

"The Leaky Cauldron," said Hermione. "It's an inn, sort of, just around the corner from here." 

"Okay!" said Dawn. "Let's go." 

Dawn noticed a man leaning against the wall outside the hotel as they left. He looked slightly sinister, with a bowler hat pulled down over his face concealing one of his eyes. He was wearing an oversized cloak and had a walking stick clutched in one hand. She saw Harry and Hermione glance toward him, and then they studiously ignored him. 

Harry and Hermione took Dawn down the block to Charing Cross Road. She looked back as they went around the corner and saw the strange man was limping in their direction. 

They stopped between a book store and a record store half way down the block. Dawn looked around. "I don't see any inns." She glanced back the way they'd come, but didn't see the limping man again. 

She saw Harry and Hermione grin. "Muggles have trouble seeing it," said Hermione. "Not that there's anything wrong with Muggles," she added quickly. "My parents are Muggles." 

"There you go with that Muggle thing again." Dawn was getting annoyed, and six years of living on top of the Hellmouth had given her a finely honed paranoia. When you don't understand what's happening, it can be bad. Even though he'd vanished, Dawn couldn't help feeling that the limping man had been following them, and both Harry and Hermione had known it. She wondered how they'd react if they knew the sort of mini-arsenal she was carrying. Even though it was day, she had a stake, cross and holy water in her purse, and a knife in her boot. She glared at them, but they just kept grinning, like they were in on a joke that she didn't get, but there didn't seem to be any hostility in their faces. 

Dawn caught a glimmer of motion in the corner of her eye, and looked toward it. She didn't see anything. She scanned along the wall. There was the book store…there was the record store, and there was nothing in between…or was there? She looked again, and this time she noticed something. Her eyes just skipped over several feet of wall. Dawn started to have a suspicion about what was going on. She looked back at Harry and Hermione. "It's hidden by a glamour! Of course! We should have known!" 

It was Harry and Hermione's turn to look surprised and confused. Surprised that the Muggle knew that there was a glamour, and confused by her second statement. What should they have known? They were really surprised by what Dawn did next too. She closed her eyes. 

They had spent part of the summer with Giles' coven friends in Devon, and Dawn had been taking lessons. She knew a couple of ways to see through glamours, and she was going to try the hard one first. If this didn't work she'd try feeling for it. She took a couple of deep breaths, cleared her mind, and turned toward where she knew the glamour was hiding something. She opened her eyes, and there it was. A dingy little door into what looked like a dingy little pub. She held out her hand toward it. "Voila! the Leaky Cauldron!" 

"You see it?" asked Hermione. "But Muggles aren't supposed to be able to see it!" 

Dawn grinned. "Maybe you should stop calling me a Muggle then." 

"You really see it?" asked Hermione. "Harry didn't set this up with you as some kind of joke?" 

"Nope. I see it…and I gotta tell Buffy about this!" Dawn reached for her cell phone. There was a reason they had picked the hotel they were staying in, and Dawn suddenly knew why they'd been having so much trouble finding their target. 

"_No!_" "_Wait!_" cried Harry and Hermione together. 

Dawn looked at Harry and Hermione and saw that they were both scared. She stopped and thought for a bit. "Okay…someone has obviously gone to a great deal of trouble to keep this place hidden, so you don't want me blabbing about it to just anyone. A few more hours aren't going to make any difference, so we can take a little time to get to know one another better, build a little trust before we take the next step. Buffy isn't expecting to hear from me soon, so we've got that long for me to convince you that you can trust us, or for you to convince me that Buffy doesn't need to know about this. But I gotta warn you, that's going to take a lot of doing. Tell me one thing before we start: What does DADA _really_ stand for?" 

Harry and Hermione exchanged a look. "Defense Against the Dark Arts," they said together. 

Dawn smiled. "Really? This may be easier than I thought. Defending against the dark is what we're all about." She looked back at the entrance to the Cauldron. "And I guess that's Ron and Ginny coming out now." Dawn could see a couple of red headed teenagers coming out of the pub. She'd been warned about their hair. 

The tall red haired boy came out and smiled at Dawn. "I thought you said you were bringing an American Muggle," he said to Harry. "She saw us before we got out here." 

"I thought I was bringing an American Muggle," said Harry. "Things just got more complicated." 

"I'm sorry, but the movie's off for now guys." Dawn pointed down the street. "There's a park down that way, let's find a shady tree to sit under while we talk." 


	5. Found Her!

Willow was sitting meditating under her favourite tree on a hilltop in Westbury. Kennedy came racing up the hill toward her. "Willow! Come quick! She's back! In London!" 

Willow was on her feet, and running downhill to meet her girlfriend. "We got a location? Have you called Buffy?" 

"We've given her the heads up," said Kennedy. "Althenea's working on refining the position better, so we can tell her which way to go." 

They ran together down the hill, and burst into Althenea's cottage near the base of it. "You got her?" panted Willow. 

Althenea looked up at Willow and smiled. "You still need to work on your patience. Almost there." She looked back down at the London street map in front of her and blew a handful of sparkling powder across it. Little coloured lights started to glow on it. 

Willow scanned the map for a red light while she caught her breath. There wasn't one. "Damn! She's gone again!" 

Althenea looked at another map on the floor beside her, this one showed all of southern England, with a glowing red dot on it. "No, she's still in London." She looked back at the street map and frowned. "Why isn't she on this one?" 

Willow pointed to a blue dot. "There's Buffy." A violet dot was moving quickly toward it. "And Giles…" The violet dot seemed to merge with the blue, making a single bright purple dot. Willow pointed to a yellow dot moving slowly into a park, a couple of blocks away from the hotel. "And Xander… Wait a minute, Xander's supposed to be in Cleveland with Faith!" She looked at the yellow dot more closely. Sometimes it seemed to split for a moment, becoming a pair of green and red dots. "She's with Dawn!" She grabbed her phone and recalled a number from its memory. 

* * *

Dawn picked an isolated tree for them to sit under. Lots of clear ground around it so no one could get close enough to overhear without them noticing. The park was nearly empty. Dawn saw one young woman with spikey green hair sit down on a bench nearby and take out a book, but she was far enough away that she wouldn't be able to hear them. She shook her head a bit at the hair. People over eighteen shouldn't be allowed to wear some styles. 

They were just settling down when Dawn's phone rang. Ron and Ginny were startled by the noise. Dawn was annoyed by the interruption, this wasn't a good time. "Just a sec, I gotta answer this." 

Dawn pulled out her phone and looked at the display. She was expecting to see that it was Buffy calling, and was a little surprised to see that it was Willow. She was suddenly hit by a whole new suspicion. 'Oh shit!' she thought. 'This has gotten complicated again.' She thumbed the talk button. "Hi Willow, let me guess. She's with me now. … How long? … Okay let me make sure I've got the right one…" Dawn looked at Ginny. "Could you please move a little bit away, just for a sec?" 

Ginny looked puzzled, but she got up and backed off a couple of steps. Dawn listened to Willow for a bit. "Okay, you can come back." She smiled at Ginny. "Had to get a little distance between us to make sure that it was really you and not Hermione that Willow's locator spell was picking up." 

Dawn started listening to Willow again while Ginny sat back down on the grass. She and the others were really looking surprised now. "No! Ask Buffy to wait. Let me handle this. If she really starts to hide, we'll never find her again. … Yeah, I got a pretty good idea why she kept appearing and disappearing, and I don't think it was a deliberate attempt to hide, at least not from us specifically. … If Buffy wants to do something… Just a sec." 

Dawn lowered her phone. "How much do you guys trust Mr. Lupin?" 

"He was one of my dad's best friends," said Harry. "And the best DADA teacher we've had." 

"That last bit's not saying much." said Ron. 

Dawn looked at Ginny. "This is really your call. Do you trust Mr. Lupin?" 

"What's this all about?" asked Ginny. 

"I'm going to tell you but if I don't give Buffy something to do, she's going to come charging over here, and _she'll_ start explaining it, and her speeches tend to get really long and boring so if you trust him, I'll send her and Giles to go explain what's happening to Mr. Lupin. Let them bore him. You want me to do that?" 

Ginny nodded. "Okay, sure." 

Dawn started talking to her phone again. "Okay, Will. Tell Buffy that DADA stands for Defense Against the Dark Arts, and she and Giles should go see his friend Lupin and explain what's going on to him. Yeah, he knows the girl, her name's Ginny Weasley, and I think these folks have a pretty good idea about what's really what in the world. … Okay, talk to you later. … Bye." 

Dawn closed her cell phone and looked at the faces of the people sitting around her on the grass. There was a curious mix of suspicion, curiosity and fear on their faces, and Ron…Ron was looking at her cell phone. 

"What?" asked Dawn. "Never seen a cell phone before?" 

"Actually, no, I haven't. It looks wicked though. Dad would love to have one of those." 

"Uh…maybe I'll let you look at it later," said Dawn. "Right now we have something more important to talk about. Have any of you ever heard of the Vampire Slayer?" 

"She's a myth!" said Hermione. 

"I'm afraid you're mythtaken…god I really said that, didn't I?" Dawn shook her head. "Okay, tell me what you've heard about the Slayer." 

Ron, Harry and Ginny were all looking blank. "Never heard of her," said Ron. 

"Really Ron, you should try reading a little more," said Hermione. "There was a chapter on vampires in one of the books on Professor Lupin's 'Recommended Reading' list. It mentioned the Slayer. It was written by a Muggle, but it was surprisingly good." 

Dawn remembered that Lupin had mentioned Giles' book being on their list. "The Muggle who wrote it wouldn't have been named 'Rupert Giles' would he?" 

Hermione frowned in concentration. "I think maybe it was." 

"Okay, then anything he'd have to say about the Slayer would be pretty accurate. Tell us about her." 

"Um, There is one girl in the world, given special powers to fight vampires and other demons," said Hermione. "She's super strong, fast and has enhanced senses for detecting demons. Once chosen the Slayer fights the forces of Darkness, until…well, until they kill her, and another is chosen." 

"That pretty much sums it up," said Dawn, "Except we've changed things a bit. Ginny, you are a Slayer." 

"No! I can't be! I mean I'm not strong, or any of that other stuff." 

"The strength doesn't show unless you really try to use it, but um, have you lost any wrestling matches with your brother in the past couple of months?" Dawn saw from Ron's reaction that she hadn't, despite him being a lot bigger than her. "Met a jar you couldn't open?" 

"She's got wicked good at Quidditch!" said Ron. "She's a cinch to make Chaser this year." 

Dawn decided to ignore Ron's incomprehensible statement. She could see that Ginny still wasn't believing her. She looked around and picked up a rock off the ground. She handed it to Ginny. "Here. Toss this into that trash can over there." She pointed to a trash can about twenty yards away. 

"I can't do that!" said Ginny. Tossing rocks was nothing like throwing an enchanted Quaffle. 

"You haven't even tried," said Dawn. "Betcha a dollar you can do it." 

"What's a dollar?" asked Ron. 

"Muggle money," said Hermione. "About two Sickles." 

"No way she can even get close!" said Ron. "I bet you she can't!" 

"Even better! Hear that Ginn?" asked Dawn. "Throw that rock into that trash can, and your brother has to pay me two Sickles." She looked at Hermione. "What's a Sickle?" 

Hermione grinned. "About fifty cents." 

"I think you're going to lose your dollar," said Ginny. She stood up, and turned toward the can. She weighed the rock carefully in her hand. 

"Don't think too much about it," said Dawn. "Just do it." She noticed that the woman with the green hair was looking toward them. She seemed to notice that Dawn was looking her way, and started reading again. 

Ginny threw the rock. It looked totally awkward, and Ron smirked to himself: Ginny still threw like a girl. No way was that rock going to… "Bloody hell!" 

"Whoosh! Nothin' but net!" Dawn held out her hand toward Ron. "Pay up." 

Ron reached into his pocket. "Had to be luck." 

"Care to try for double or nothing?" asked Dawn. 

Ron made a face as he pulled some silver and copper coins out of his pocket. He dropped a couple of the silver ones into her hand. Dawn looked them over carefully. "So those are Sickles. Neat!" 

"So you're saying that now Ginny is this one girl in all the world, who has been chosen to fight the monsters?" asked Hermione. She didn't like that at all. The book had said that Slayers didn't live very long. 

"Yes, and no," said Dawn. 

"What do you mean?" 

Dawn smiled. "We changed the 'one girl in all the world' part a couple of months ago. Now there are forty-seven of them. Ginny was the toughest to find. We knew she existed, but she'd keep appearing and then disappearing again before we could get anyone close enough to find her. You're living someplace that's masked by magic, aren't you? Like the Leaky Cauldron?" 

"Uh, yeah," said Ginny. 

"The most important thing now though, is that as a consequence of the change, because there isn't just one girl anymore, Ginny has a choice," said Dawn. "It's a choice Buffy really never had. Ginny, do you really _want_ to be a Slayer? Do you want to be part of the fight?" 


	6. Cauldron and Alley

Dawn re-entered the lobby of their hotel a couple of hours later, and saw Buffy rushing toward her. "Dawn! Where is she? Willow said she vanished again! After all we've been through to find her, I don't want to lose her!" 

"Buffy, relax," said Dawn. "I explained everything to her, and left her to go talk things over with her family. She knows where we're staying, and I know how to get a message to her, if something comes up." 

"But what if she just disappears?" 

"It's her choice, remember?" said Dawn. "That's part of what this is all about. The girls get to choose for themselves if they want to be Slayers. We didn't talk about it much, but I got the impression that they've all seen some pretty dark stuff themselves. We'll be hearing from her again." Dawn started up the stairs toward their room. "So, did you and Giles talk with Mr. Lupin?" 

"No," said Buffy. "Turns out he's pretty hard to find too. He wasn't home at the address he gave us. It doesn't look like he spends much time there. There was a couple of days' worth of newspapers piled in front of his door. We tried back at the bookstore, to see if Mr. Crook could tell us where to find him. All he'd do was promise to pass on the message that we were looking for Lupin, if he bumped into him." 

* * *

Dawn came out of the bathroom the next morning toweling her hair dry. Buffy went in to take her turn. The phone rang just as Dawn heard the shower starting. "I got it!" she called to her sister. She went to answer the phone. "Hello? … Okay, I'll be down in a few minutes." 

Buffy poked her head out of the bathroom. She hadn't gotten into the shower yet. "Who was it?" 

"The front desk," said Dawn. "They've got a letter for me." She started to get dressed. "You know, in a better hotel, they'd deliver it to our room." 

"But then you'd have to tip the guy who brought it." said Buffy. "And we picked this one because it was closest to where Ginny appeared and disappeared most often, not for the quality of the service." She disappeared back into the bathroom, and Dawn could hear her splashing around in the shower when she left to get her mail. 

Dawn got back to their room just after Buffy got out of the shower. She was holding a parchment envelope in her hand. "What is it?" asked Buffy. 

"Don't know yet," said Dawn. She looked at the envelope she was holding again. There was no stamp on it, no return address, and the man at the front desk had said that it had just shown up in his in basket. The address read: 

Miss Dawn Summers  
Twiddlings Hotel, Room 314  
Coventry Place  
London 

in flowing script, written with bright green ink. Dawn flipped the envelope over and looked at the red wax seal on the back of it again. A coat of arms was pressed into it. An 'H' surrounded by a badger, lion, snake and eagle. 

"Well aren't you going to open it?" asked Buffy. 

Dawn smiled. "Okay, but if it explodes in my face, I'm blaming you." She carefully opened the envelope, and pulled out the parchment letter inside. It was written in the same flowing hand, and green ink. 

Dear Miss Summers, 

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley have asked for my assistance in the matter concerning their daughter Virginia. We wish to meet with your sister Buffy and Mr. Rupert Giles this afternoon at two o'clock for tea in the Leaky Cauldron. I would greatly appreciate it if you could show them the way. 

Yours sincerely, 

Albus Dumbledore,  
Headmaster, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards) 

"Well?" asked Buffy. 

"We've been invited to have tea with Ginny's parents," said Dawn, "and some guy with a very weird title." She handed the letter to Buffy. "What do you think?" 

Buffy read the letter herself. "I think we're going to have tea." She handed it back to her sister. "What does one wear to tea with the Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards?" 

"I have no idea," said Dawn. 

* * *

They hadn't really packed any formal wear, and they decided not to go shopping for anything. Buffy and Dawn were wearing the most conservative of the clothes that they had packed when they arrived in front of the Leaky Cauldron at five minutes to two. The outfits were intended to produce a calming first impression. Casual, dark slacks and blouses with subdued colours. Giles was wearing what Buffy tended to think of as his 'Librarian Suit.' It had been ages since she'd last seen him wearing it. 

Buffy and Giles looked around. "Um, where is it?" asked Giles. 

Dawn pointed at the door. "Right there." 

"I don't see anything Dawnie," said Buffy. 

"I told you, it's hidden by a glamour." 

Dawn watched as Buffy closed her eyes, and tried to clear her mind. Her eyes opened again. "Nope. Still no door." 

"Glad there are still some things I can do better than you." Dawn held out her hand. "Here, take my hand, grab Giles, and watch your step. There's two steps up." 

Buffy grasped Dawn's hand with her right and Giles' with her left, and followed as Dawn led them toward the wall. Dawn seemed to just vanish from sight in front of her, but she could still feel Dawn's hand in hers. She moved forward a couple more steps, and crossed an invisible threshold. The entrance to the Leaky Cauldron appeared before her. "Whoa! Looks like a bit of a dive. We may be overdressed." 

"I think that's just to discourage anyone who manages to see past the glamour," said Dawn. "Come on." She pushed open the door. Buffy and Giles followed her inside. 

The interior didn't raise Buffy's opinion of the place much. It still seemed rather dim and shabby. She looked around. It seemed to be a lot bigger than it looked from outside too. The man behind the bar was frowning at them. He looked like he thought they didn't belong there. Buffy was getting tired of seeing that look on people's faces. "Can I help you?" he asked. 

"We're supposed to be meeting a Mr. Dumbledore here," said Buffy. "He's expecting us." 

The man's frown vanished. "Meeting the Professor, eh? He did say he was expecting someone, has a room reserved on the second floor." He started to come around the bar. 

"It's okay Tom," said Harry from the stairway. "The Professor asked me to show them up." 

Harry led Buffy, Dawn and Giles up the stairs. They passed a couple of people dressed in colourful robes coming down and Buffy began to wonder if maybe she should have worn something else. Harry seemed to read her mind. "Don't worry about your clothes. Mr. Weasley just loves all things Muggle…um, you should be warned, he tried to dress like one himself." 

Harry led them down a long hallway. Now Buffy was sure that this building couldn't fit in the narrow space between the record and book stores. Something weird was definitely going on. He stopped in front of a door and knocked lightly on it. A muffled voice invited them to come in. 

Harry opened the door and led them into an elegant sitting room. A sofa and comfortable chairs were set up around a table on which tea cups and a pot were waiting. Several people were standing waiting for them. Buffy immediately identified Ginny as a fellow Slayer. There was a connection between them that she felt instantly. From the look on Ginny's face she could feel it too. It was also immediately apparent who her parents were. A middle aged couple with flaming red hair. His was starting to thin, but hers was quite abundant. He was also dressed in a mismatched pair of pinstriped pants, and a golf sweater. Ginny and the woman were dressed in the least colourful robes Buffy had seen yet, and Ginny's had a crest like the seal on the envelope their invitation had come in on them. Also present was Remus Lupin, who was wearing threadbare robes, instead of threadbare tweed. 

The fifth person waiting for them was the most extraordinary. While the robes of Mrs. Weasley and Ginny looked not too unlike something you might see at a university graduation, his looked like they'd been through some sort of explosion in a paint store. And the colours kept changing. He had the longest, and whitest hair Buffy had ever seen, and his beard was so long he kept the end of it tucked in his belt. His eyes, behind half moon glasses, had a twinkle in them that belied the grave expression on his face. 

He was the first to speak. "Remus, I believe you know everyone present. Why don't you make the introductions." 

"Certainly Professor." Remus stepped forward. He gestured toward Buffy. "Professor Albus Dumbledore, I would like you to meet Miss Buffy Summers, if my information is correct, the Slayer." 

Dumbledore held out his hand. "Pleased to meet you Miss Summers." 

"Pleased to meet you too." Buffy shook his hand. "But I'm not _the_ Slayer anymore." She smiled toward Ginny. "I'm just _a_ Slayer." 

"Of course," said Dumbledore. 

"With Miss Summers we have Rupert Giles…" Dumbledore shook his hand. "…and Miss Dawn Summers." 

Dumbledore took Dawn's hand, and he looked at her with eyes that seemed to see right through her. "Extraordinary!" he said. "So _that's_ where it got to!" 

"What?" asked Dawn. She had a very bad feeling about this. 

"Oh, I'm sorry," Dumbledore smiled, and looked like what Santa Claus was supposed to look like. "After a hundred and forty-five years the mind starts to wander. I just remembered where I left an ice cream sundae that I misplaced last April." 

Dawn smiled at him, but she was feeling there was nothing wrong with the way this man's mind worked. He knew something he wasn't saying. 

Lupin continued the introductions. "On the other side of the room we have Miss Virginia Weasley, if my information is correct, _a_ Slayer." Buffy stepped up to her, and smiled. "Hi! Glad to finally meet you!" She held out her hand. 

Ginny took it carefully. "Hello." 

Lupin gestured toward the man and woman. "And Ginny's parents. Arthur and Molly Weasley." 

Buffy greeted them more solemnly. She could see the worried look in their eyes. "How do you do." She shook first her, and then his hand. 

"And finally, I think everyone has already met Harry, who's back there in the corner, hoping we'd forgotten about him," said Lupin. 

"Harry, why don't you take Dawn and show her around Diagon Alley." Dumbledore smiled. "Maybe she can keep you out of trouble." 

Harry smiled. "Okay Professor. Come on Dawn." He opened the door for her, and then followed her out of the room. 

"Why don't we all get comfortable." Dumbledore held his hand out toward the chairs around the tea table. One of them drew back a bit, and Dumbledore indicated that Buffy should sit in it. It pushed itself back in as she sat down. Giles took the chair beside Buffy, and the Weasleys sat on the sofa on the other side from them, with Ginny in the center. Dumbledore and Lupin took chairs at either end of the table. 

Dumbledore withdrew a wand from his robe, and gestured at the teapot. It rose up, and poured into the seven cups on the table. "Milk or sugar, Miss Summers?" 

"Oh, um, sugar please," said Buffy. "And just call me Buffy." She was trying not to be too impressed…this wasn't _that_ astonishing. Willow could pull something like this off if she wanted too, but Buffy didn't think Willow could have done it as casually as Dumbledore was doing it. She watched as a spoonful of sugar was added to her cup, and the spoon stirred it. She glanced around the table to see how the others were reacting. Lupin and the Weasleys weren't reacting to the tea stirring itself at all, as if it was part of the way tea was always served. They seemed to be watching for Buffy's reaction. Giles on the other hand was visibly trying to control himself. His hand kept starting to move up toward his glasses before he pushed it back down again. 

Dumbledore asked Giles how he liked his tea, and prepared it to order. He didn't inquire of the Weasleys, or Lupin. He prepared each cup the way he knew they liked it. Ginny got three sugars, and extra milk. 

Dumbledore leaned back in his chair once everyone had a chance to take their first sips. "Now Buffy, we have heard what your sister told Ginny and her friends about how she came to be a Slayer, but young memories being what they are that means we heard four different versions of the story. Perhaps you should repeat it for us." 

* * *

Harry led Dawn back down through the pub and out the back door into the empty courtyard behind it. "This is Diagon Alley?" she asked. "Not very impressive." 

"Doesn't look like much does it?" Harry smiled and pulled out his wand. He tapped a brick on the back wall three times. The brick started to wiggle and turned itself sideways, opening up a small hole. More bricks around it started to wiggle and turn, making the hole grow until an archway opened up, large enough for Harry and Dawn to walk through. On the other side was a cobbled street, which twisted and turned out of sight. 

Harry watched Dawn as he led her through the arch, delighted by the way her eyes went wide and looked around, trying to take everything in. The architecture of the buildings was eclectic, a mish-mash of styles from different ages, and different countries. No two buildings looked alike, or even looked like they belonged on the same street together, but they all looked like they belonged exactly where they were. Right by the archway was a shop offering a special two for the price of one offer on their pewter cauldrons, and a little way down an apothecary was offering a special on conjuring powder: 10 Sickles an ounce. Dawn did a rough estimate in her head based on the two Sickle per dollar conversion rate. "Ha!" she told Harry. "Anya used to charge less than that." 

"You know someone who sold real conjuring powder?" Harry tried to keep the doubt out of his voice. "It's pretty hard to come by. That's the best price I've ever seen for it." 

"Anya knew the troll that sheds it," said Dawn. "She got it straight from the supplier, cutting out all the middle men." 

They wandered down the Alley together, Dawn stopped often to look at things displayed in the various shop windows. Harry remembered his first trip to the Alley, and how he'd wished he had eyes in the back of his head so he could take everything in. 

Dawn wasn't quite as overwhelmed as he had been. The Alley was pretty much the quietest Harry had ever seen it. Voldemort's return finally becoming public knowledge was hurting business. The _Daily Prophet_ was reporting that retail sales in most sectors were down. (But there was a rise in sales of protection charms, and other such items.) He was also surprised that she actually recognised some of the magical items for sale, knew what they were, and how they worked. When she'd told him the other day that Mr. Giles used to run a magic shop back in Sunnydale he had assumed that she had meant the sort of shop that sold 'magic tricks' to Muggles, but after she correctly identified a couple of charms in one shop he took her into, he started to think that maybe she really did know something about this stuff. Maybe this Anya person really had known a conjuring powder shedding troll. 

Dawn was thinking of maybe buying something for Willow, but she was having a tough time figuring out what the prices were. She knew a Sickle was worth about fifty cents, but she didn't have a clue about Galleons or Knuts, so she asked Harry. 

"Seventeen Sickles to a Galleon," said Harry, "and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle." 

"That's nuts!" said Dawn. "They're both prime numbers!" 

"Actually there is some sort of magical explanation that's supposed to make sense—there's power in primes—but I tend to agree with you," said Harry, "There's some talk of switching over to a sexagesimal system, but so far the idea hasn't caught on." 

"Sexagesimal?" asked Dawn. "Sounds like it should have at least an R rating." 

Harry laughed. "That's one of the reasons it hasn't caught on. No, it means base sixty, like time. Keep the Galleon, but divide it up into sixty 'minutes' and have each minute divided into sixty 'seconds.' Of course we wouldn't call them minutes or seconds, that would be too confusing…or maybe with wizards being the way we are, we _would_ call them minutes and seconds." 

"So, if I wanted to buy something worth more than two Sickles, would I be able to?" asked Dawn. "Do any of these shops take Muggle money…or maybe VISA?" 

Harry laughed again. "A couple might take Pounds, or Euro's, but for the most part they'll want actual Galleons, Sickles or Knuts, and wizards still haven't discovered credit cards, which by and large works out quite well for them. Rarely hear a wizard complaining that they've maxed their credit limit. Of course Gringotts tends to get _very_ touchy with people who overdraw their accounts." 

"Gringotts?" 

Harry pointed to an imposing white marble building with a goblin in a scarlet and gold uniform standing beside the burnished bronze doors. "The wizard bank. Run by goblins. They could exchange your money for you if you like." He stopped and thought a second. "Or I could do it. I should have thought of that before! If you see something you like, I'll buy it, and you can pay me. I'll give you a better exchange rate, Gringotts really tries to gouge the Muggles." 

"Thanks!" said Dawn. "Sure it isn't an imposition?" 

"Not at all!" said Harry. "I should have thought of this sooner! I'm always strapped for cash when I'm with the Dursleys. They won't let me have any. This way I can get myself some spending money for the month I have to spend with them every summer!" 

"The Dursleys?" 

"My aunt, uncle and cousin," said Harry. "I've had to live with them ever since my parents died, when I was a baby." 

"Oh, I'm sorry." Dawn was left feeling like she'd really stuck her foot in her mouth. 

"No, it's okay, you couldn't know," said Harry. "In a way, it's kinda refreshing to meet someone who _doesn't_ know about how my parents died. I'm afraid I'm quite famous among the witches and wizards of the world." 

"My mom died a couple of years ago," said Dawn. "It's the worst thing that ever happened to me." 

Harry and Dawn spent a little time just looking at each other. A moment of shared understanding. Dawn broke the silence. "Oh, and didn't we just get all depressing there! We need to find something fun!" 

Harry grinned. "You want fun? Come on!" He led her a little farther down the Alley, to a section where several small shops were crowded together. "Here we are: 93 Diagon Alley, _Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes_!" 

"Is this Ginny's family's business?" asked Dawn. 

"Not exactly," said Harry. "It belongs to a couple of her older brothers." He leaned a little closer to whisper to her. "With me as their silent partner, and financial backer." He raised his voice again. "Their mother threatened to disown them when they dropped out of school last year and opened it up. She did toss them out of the house, but they still go back to scrounge at least a couple of meals a week out of her." He lowered his voice again. "Mrs. Weasley doesn't know I gave them their startup money, so she still likes me." 

Harry went to the door, and pulled it open. "Whatever you do, don't eat anything that Fred or George gives you, or that you bought here. The fun is feeding them to your friends, or even better, to your enemies." 

Dawn followed Harry into the crowded little shop. She immediately spotted the red-headed twins who must be Ginny's brothers. They were a little shorter than Ron, with stockier builds. Ron, Hermione and a couple of other kids she didn't recognise were also in the shop. Ron and Hermione looked like they were just hanging out. The kids looked like they might be customers. 

"Hi Harry!" called out one of the twins. "Is that the Muggle who wants to take our little sister away?" 

"We don't want to take her away!" said Dawn. 

"Don't mind Fred," said Harry. "He's just an idiot." 

"You're right," said the twin who had spoken. "Fred's an idiot. I'm George. What _do_ you intend to do with our sister?" 

Dawn glanced toward the two strangers. "We intend to help her finish her education before she goes on to do anything else. What she does with her life after that is up to her." Dawn looked at the two strange kids in the shop again. "And it certainly isn't anything I plan to talk about in front of an audience." She could see that Fred and George weren't looking very happy with her, and neither were Ron or Hermione. 

Harry decided to change the subject. "Hey, Hermione! I was explaining wizard money to Dawn, and I got an idea: if your parents haven't exchanged their Muggle money yet for your school expenses this year, have them come see me. I'll give them a better exchange rate than Gringotts, and I'll take a cheque. Gringotts only deals in cash with Muggles," he added in an aside to Dawn. 

Dawn looked around the shop. She couldn't figure out what most of the items for sale were. What the heck were Ton Tongue Toffees, (5 for a Sickle) Canary Creams, (20 Knuts each) a Portable Swamp, (15 Galleons) or Weasleys' Wildfire Whiz-bangs (5 Galleons for a Basic Blaze Box, or 20 for a Deflagration Deluxe Set.) That last item sounded like it might be fun though. "So what kinda stuff do you sell here?" she asked. 

"The finest supplies for the wizarding joker!" said George. "Unfortunately most of our merchandise is off limits for sale to Muggles, or for use against Muggles. The Ministry is threatening to shut us down if they have to unengorge another Muggle's tongue. They made us change the formula so they only stay swollen for five minutes." 

"Swollen tongues?" asked Dawn. 

Fred pointed to the Ton Tongue Toffees. "One of our best sellers. Makes the eater's tongue swell up to ten times its normal size." 

"See why I told you not to eat anything you get from these guys?" asked Harry. 

The two customers left with a supply of Canary Creams, and a Basic Blaze Box. Fred went to the door, put up an "Out to Lunch" sign, and waved his wand at the windows. "_Obscuratus!_" The windows went black. He turned back to Dawn. "Okay, now we don't have an audience." He was scowling. "What do you intend to do with our baby sister?" 


	7. Explanations

Chapter 6: Explanations 

Dawn looked around the shop. Fred, George, Ron and Hermione weren't looking very happy with her. "I already told you: what Ginny does is up to Ginny. We aren't going to _make_ her do anything." 

"What's up Hermione?" asked Harry. "You guys weren't this upset when I left this morning." 

"I've been doing some research," said Hermione. "I found this in _Flourish & Blotts_." She pulled out a book that she'd been hiding under the counter. Dawn looked at the cover: _A Treatise on the Mythology and Methodology of the Vampire Slayer_. 

"Oh," said Dawn. "I can understand why you might be a little upset, but that book is totally obsolete now." 

"What do you think upset us?" asked Ron. 

"Uh, the bits on Slayer life expectancy?" asked Dawn. 

"That's the big one," said Fred. 

"What about Slayer life expectancy?" asked Harry. 

"They rarely made it to eighteen," said Dawn. "Buffy's getting close to being one of the oldest on record." 

"_What?_" asked Harry. "But she can't be more than…twenty-five?" 

"Twenty-two, and I'll tell her you said that," said Dawn. "But that's all changed now! We're still working out the details, but we're making things different!" 

* * *

"What are you making different, Miss Summers?" asked Professor Dumbledore. 

"For starters, we want Ginny to finish her education before we'll consider asking her to take on the duties of a Slayer," said Buffy. "We don't want to put any girl at risk until she's at least eighteen years old. Old enough, and with the education she needs to make an informed decision about whether or not she wants to accept the risks involved with being a Slayer. If she does decide to take up the duties of a Slayer, she will be partnered with another, more experienced woman, maybe more than one. I don't want to see any girl having the weight of the world placed on her shoulders alone. 

"I was called when I was fifteen, like Ginny here. For a lot of my first year I _was_ alone. My first Watcher died, and I went through hell with _no one_ to help me for months. Then Giles found me, and I haven't really been alone since. I've gathered friends who've helped me, and kept me alive this long. I wouldn't have made it without them. Now I want to do the same for the other girls who've been called. 

"That's another big change we're making. For the first couple of years, I kept being told that I _had_ to keep my being the Slayer a secret. I couldn't tell my friends or my family anything about it. Because of that I lost all my friends, and my mom…well she spent a lot of time thinking I was a no-good trouble making juvenile delinquent or something, and she just couldn't deal. Things were pretty tough between us for a while, but they got a lot better after she found out the truth. 

"We don't want Ginny walking around wearing an 'I'm a Slayer' t-shirt," said Buffy. "It should still be kept a secret from most people, but we think it's best if her family and close friends know about it." 

Buffy paused to take another sip from her tea. All that talking was making her throat dry. Dumbledore waited a few seconds before he asked his next question. "So what exactly do you want Miss Weasley to do now?" 

"I don't want Ginny to say 'yes' to being a Slayer yet. All I want is a 'maybe.' If she says 'maybe,' we'll see to it that she gets the sort of education that she needs to be able to tell us 'yes' or 'no' sometime down the road. If she says 'no' now, we won't ask her again, but we'll leave an address where she can contact us, if she changes her mind." 

"Ginny isn't going to any school but Hogwarts!" burst out Mrs. Weasley. 

Buffy smiled at her. "I'd never heard of that school before this morning, but any school that has a course in…" She looked at Lupin, and her smile widened. "…what did you call it? … Oh yeah, 'Defense Against Dastardly Auditors.' Anyway, a school that teaches that, and would have someone that Giles thinks as highly of as Mr. Lupin as one of its former professors sounds like the sort of place that Ginny could get the sort of education she would need to be a Slayer. 

"If you do say 'maybe' we'd like to have a look at your curriculum, and maybe make some course suggestions for her…maybe arrange for some private tutoring in some specialised areas, but I don't think there will be any problem with Ginny continuing in her current school. Hey, I grew up in the California public school system. You'd have to look pretty hard to find a _worse_ learning environment, and I turned out okay." 

Giles cleared his throat. 

"I suppose that not everyone agrees with that." 

"As a minor inducement to getting a 'maybe' from you, we will pay all reasonable expenses for Ginny's education," Buffy looked back at Dumbledore. "Uh, how much does a year at Hogwarts cost?" 

"Tuition and board are free, to all who have the talent to receive an invitation," said Dumbledore. "The students are only required to pay for their basic school supplies, books, robes etc. The typical student gets by on about 150 Galleons a term." 

"Um, sorry, but where I come from, a Galleon is a boat," said Buffy. 

Lupin smiled. "It works out to about $1,200." 

"Pfft! No problem." Buffy noticed Mr. and Mrs. Weasley both shifted uncomfortably in their seats. 

Dumbledore tented his fingers and thought for a moment. "You mentioned 'private tutoring in some specialised areas' Miss Summers. Hogwarts is rather isolated. It would be difficult to have a Muggle provide tutoring to one of our students." 

"We also have a staffing problem," said Giles. "The First killed most of the qualified Watchers, and completely disrupted the organization. We are in the position of having to recruit new people, and it is very difficult to find suitable candidates. We are having to look outside of the usual recruiting grounds for new Watchers." He looked at Remus. "You were one of the people that I planned to look up while I was back here in England, to talk to about joining us. Since you already know Ginny, and her family, I think you would be an ideal candidate to be her Watcher." 

Buffy watched Lupin, the Weasley's, and Dumbledore exchange some worried glances. "Unless you have some objection," she said quickly. "Is there any reason Mr. Lupin _shouldn't_ be a Watcher?" 

* * *

Hermione pointed to an item in a table in one of the later chapters of the book. It was a listing of various demon types, and the ways to kill them. "So, do Slayers kill werewolves?" 

"No!" said Dawn. "God, this book was obsolete the day it was printed! Werewolves aren't even demons. They're people. I even had a werewolf as a babysitter when I was a kid…not during the full moon of course." 

"You know a werewolf?" asked Harry. 

"Yeah," said Dawn. "Oz is a real cool guy. He played guitar in a band. He was Willow's—she's the one who did the locator spell that found Ginny—first serious boyfriend. He helped Buffy save the world at least three times. 

"Even if Buffy finds a werewolf while it's all furry, and trying to eat people, she'll try to capture it, rather than kill it. She even got a tranq gun just for handling situations like that." 

"What's a tranq gun?" asked Ron. 

"Sort of a Muggle way of doing the same thing as a Stupefy curse," said Hermione. 

Dawn looked down the list of 'demons' in the book. She recognised several of them as being 'mostly harmless.' "This list is crap." She pointed to another demon she recognised. "Look, I know one of these too. Clem is one of the nicest fellows you're ever likely to meet! Sure, he likes to eat kittens, but other than that, he's a real sweetheart." 

"So, the Slayer doesn't just kill all demons?" asked Ron. 

"Some might have in the past, but not Buffy," said Dawn. "And that's not the way we're teaching the new Slayers. Some demons Buffy pretty much kills on sight, like vampires, but for the most part, she's willing to leave anything alone that isn't trying to kill people. There have even been a couple of vampires that turned out to be good guys, but they were both extraordinary cases involving gypsy curses, or experimental computer chips shoved into their heads." 

Dawn looked at Hermione carefully. "Why did you pick the werewolf off that list? Do you know a werewolf?" 

* * *

"So you have no objection to having a werewolf as one of your Watchers?" asked Lupin. 

"Not if the girl he's watching has no objection," said Buffy. "At least for the girls who are still in training. For an active Slayer…too much shi—" Buffy glanced back toward the Weasleys. "I mean stuff tends to go down during the full moon to have a Watcher who's out of commission on those nights. 

"But while she's in training…I think it would be a good example to her of how the world isn't all black and white. There's a lot of grey. You have to look for the good, amidst the evil, and use your judgement." 

"I might have an objection," said Dumbledore. 

His announcement took everyone by surprise. "Why would you object?" asked Mr. Weasley. 

"I have no doubt that Remus would be a most admirable Watcher for Miss Weasley," said Dumbledore. "My objection is of a more selfish nature. I was planning to invite him back to Hogwarts as our Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor." 

Lupin was stunned. "But after the last time— So many of the parents objected!" 

"The mistake we made last time was to hide your nature from them," said Dumbledore. "This time we are going to announce quite openly that our DADA Professor is a werewolf. While I am sure that there will be some parents who will object loudly…they may even pull their children out of our school…I think that now the majority will accept you. 

"You were the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we have had at Hogwarts in a long time. I know this. The staff knows this. Most of the students you taught know this. Many of the parents who demanded your removal the last time have had the opportunity to listen to their children's opinions about you, and the other DADA professors, and some your most vociferous opponents have now changed their minds, and quietly asked that I consider reinstating you. After recent events, they know that we _need_ a good Defense Professor. 

"Remus Lupin, I would like to offer you the position of Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." 

Lupin looked stunned. His mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water for several seconds. He blinked. "I— I— I don't know what to say!" 

Dumbledore smiled. "A simple 'yes' or 'no' will suffice." 

"Yes!" said Lupin. "I'm sorry, Ripper, Buffy, but to have my position at Hogwarts again…It's too great an opportunity to turn down." He smiled at the Weasleys. "And I'll still be one of Ginny's teachers." 

"Indeed you shall," said Giles. "I see no conflict." 

"What do you mean?" asked Lupin. 

"What's Hogwart's policy on—if you'll pardon the expression—moonlighting?" Buffy asked Dumbledore. 

Dumbledore smiled understanding. "As long as they don't interfere with their duties as a teacher, Hogwarts Professors are free to pursue other ventures." 

"Ginny's tutoring should only take up a few hours of your, and her, time each week," said Buffy. "Giles here was my high school's librarian while he was acting as my Watcher for three years… Of course I never understood how they justified keeping a librarian on staff at that school, I can only recall people actually checking out books from his library four times." 

"You and your friends chased off anyone who came looking," said Giles. 

Buffy smiled, and shrugged at him. "Anyway, Mr. Lupin. If you are willing, we think that you could act as Ginny's Watcher, while still fulfilling your duties as the Hogwarts DADA professor. There is, I suspect, a great deal of overlap between the two jobs." 

"I— If Professor Dumbledore has no objection," said Lupin. "I would be most pleased to operate in both capacities." 

Buffy smiled. "We still haven't heard a 'maybe' from the Weasleys." She saw that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were looking uncomfortable. "No rush," she added. "School doesn't start again for nearly a month, right? You have till then to let us know, one way or the other. We'll be at the hotel till Saturday, and then we're going back to Giles' place in Bath." Buffy rummaged around in her purse and pulled out a note pad, and pen. She wrote down the addresses and phone numbers of their hotel, and Giles' flat in Bath. "Here's how you can find us." She ripped the sheet from the pad and held it out to Mr. Weasley. 

"Oh!" Mr. Weasley took the sheet of paper. "I just love Muggle telephone numbers!" 

"He just needs to figure out how to work a phone," mumbled Lupin. 

"Oh, Dawn mentioned something about you wanting to see something like that." Buffy took out her cell phone and flipped it open. She saw 'NO SIGNAL' displayed on the screen. "Huh? Doesn't seem to be working." 

"I'm afraid the spacial distortions of this establishment play havoc with Muggle communications devices, Buffy," said Dumbledore. 

"I wish I knew that coming in," said Buffy. "If Willow discovers she can't talk to us she might panic, and Willow in a panic…not pretty, especially since we seem to be masked from her location spells while we're here too." 

"That puzzles me," said Mrs. Weasley. "You seem to be aware of magic. This Willow person you speak of seems quite adept at some fairly complicated spells, but you had never heard of Hogwarts, and seem to live entirely in the Muggle world. How could that be?" 

"If I might venture a guess?" said Dumbledore. 

"Go ahead," said Buffy. "Your guess is probably better than mine." 

"Your Willow is a practitioner of Wiccan magic, is she not?" asked Dumbledore. 

Buffy smiled. "A friend who should know once called her the most powerful Wicca in the western hemisphere…and I think she was underestimating Will." 

"Ah, I understand," said Dumbledore. He turned to the Weasleys. "This is something that I think it is best that I discuss with Buffy and Rupert in private. They have given you much to think about as well. Perhaps we should adjourn this meeting, until some later time?" 

The Weasleys got up from their sofa, as did Remus Lupin. Buffy and Giles stood as well, and went to the door with them. They shook all of their hands again before they left. "I hope we'll be hearing from you soon," said Buffy as they left. She and Giles went back to the table and sat back down with Dumbledore. "So what about Willow?" she asked. 

Dumbledore frowned at Buffy and Giles. "Some magical knowledge has fallen into Muggle hands over the years. It has been mixed with a lot of nonsense, known as Wicca. Wiccan practitioners even call themselves 'witches' though of course very few of them are. 

"You say your friend is powerful?" asked Dumbledore. Buffy and Giles nodded. "This can be very dangerous. One of your Muggle writers once said 'A little learning is a dangerous thing.' Someone with true talent, learning wiccan magic, can be very dangerous." 

Dumbledore saw the look that Buffy and Giles exchanged. "Your Willow has caused some troubles, has she not?" 

"Well, yeah," said Buffy. "She went through a real bad patch a year ago, but she's gotten better." 

"Miss Harkness has improved her control a great deal," added Giles. 

"Amelia Harkness?" asked Dumbledore. 

"Why, yes!" said Giles. "You know her?" 

"I know of her," said Dumbledore. "We have met, and corresponded over the years. A year ago she wrote to me to say that she had found a girl with truly incredible power, who had done terrible things, but pulled herself back from the brink. I asked if I could meet her, but Amelia said I was too late. Her student had a greater task ahead of her." 

"That's our Willow," said Buffy. "We couldn't have stopped the First without her. It was her spell that made Ginny a Slayer." 

"I would still very much like to meet your Willow," said Dumbledore. "A witch with such power, able to resist the pull of that power without training. She must be a truly extraordinary person Miss Summers. Almost as extraordinary as your sister." 

Buffy's blood froze. She remembered the comment Dumbledore had made earlier about Dawn. "What about my sister?" Her voice was icy. 

Dumbledore looked at her over his glasses. "You are aware of her true nature are you not?" 

"I am very aware, Mr. Dumbledore." Buffy saw his eyes flick toward Giles. "And so is Mr. Giles. Stop talking in riddles, speak very plainly about what you think you know about Dawn, or this conversation is _over!_" 

"Quite right Miss Summers," said Dumbledore. "Your sister is the Key. I always knew that the Monks of Dagon were arrogant, but I never suspected that their arrogance would reach so far. They paid for it in the end of course." 

"You know about the Key?" asked Buffy. 

"Only in the most general sense," said Dumbledore. "I know it has power. I know that people crave that power. I know that others would kill to keep that power from falling into the wrong hands. What sort of person are you, Miss Summers?" 

"I am a person who will kill _anyone_ who would hurt Dawn," said Buffy. 

"You know she is not truly your sister," said Dumbledore. 

"I knew that when I died to save her, Mr. Dumbledore." Buffy glared into his eyes, daring him to make some further comment. Dumbledore looked back, with a calm, steady gaze. Both of them waited for the other to blink. 

Dumbledore blinked first. "Buffy, have you considered where Dawn will go to school next year? My understanding is that her previous school is now as the bottom of the Sunnydale Lagoon." He smiled. 

"What do you have in mind?" asked Buffy. 

"Dawn's nature gives her a great deal of inborn talent," said Dumbledore. "To leave such talent untrained is dangerous, as it was dangerous in your friend Willow." 

"You want to train her?" 

"Yes." 

"Why should I trust you any more that anyone else who wants to use Dawn?" 

"Because like you with Miss Weasley, I am leaving the decision in your hands," said Dumbledore. "Dawn may come to us, or she may not. The decision is yo— Well, actually, I think it should be hers." 

Buffy smiled at Dumbledore. "Touché, Professor Dumbledore. You're right. Dawn is grown up enough to have a say in her major life decisions." 

"I don't expect you to buy…what is the phrase, 'a pig in a pike?'" asked Dumbledore. 

"'Poke,'" said Giles. "'A pig in a poke.' A 'poke' is a bag, its contents invisible to the buyer. A 'pike' is a fish." 

"Of course." said Dumbledore. "It makes sense now. Who would buy a pig inside a fish? Silly thing to do. Back to what I was saying: I think it would be worthwhile for you to visit Hogwarts, so that you may also make an informed decision about whether or not Dawn should join us, and also evaluate our suitability as a place for Miss Weasley's education as a Slayer." 


	8. Ollivanders

Dawn sat at a table eating icecream with Harry, Ron and Hermione. They'd left to let Fred and George reopen their joke shop. Dawn had seated herself where she could watch what was going on in the Alley, so she saw the white owl approaching. She was surprised to see it out during the day, and more surprised that it seemed to be coming right at them. "Um, guys?" 

Dawn was really surprised when the owl swooped right over their table and dropped a couple of envelopes on it. It did quick roll in the air and settled down on the back of Harry's chair. Ron, Hermione and Harry all reacted like this was the normal way that mail got delivered. No one else in the ice cream parlour seemed to take any notice either. 

Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bag. He dumped something that looked like a raisins out of it into his palm and held them up by his shoulder. The owl daintily picked them out of his hand with its beak. Harry smiled at the expression on Dawn's face. "Dried rat livers," he told her. "Hedwig just loves them." He stroked the owl affectionately. "Don't you girl?" 

The owl hooted, and pecked at Harry's ear. 

"So owls delivering mail is a normal thing?" asked Dawn. 

"Works a lot better than the Muggle post," said Ron. "The one time my mum tried to use it to send Harry a letter, it took days to get there." He watched Harry pick up the envelopes and look at the addresses. Harry's eyebrows went up a bit, and handed one of them to Dawn. "This one's for you." 

Dawn looked at the envelope. It was identical to the one that she had gotten that morning, except for the address: 

Miss Dawn Summers  
Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, Table 4  
Diagon Alley  
London 

She opened the envelope and pulled out the parchment inside. This time she recognised her sister's handwriting. 

__

Dawn, 

Professor Dumbledore has asked Harry to take you to get a wand. Apparently you may need one. 

Buffy. 

Harry was looking just as surprised as Dawn felt. He looked up at her, and then left and right at Ron and Hermione. "The Professor wants me to take Dawn to Ollivanders." He smiled at Dawn. "I guess we're really going to have to stop calling you a Muggle." 

Harry, Ron and Hermione took Dawn back down the Alley to a shop Dawn had noticed when they'd passed by it before. It wasn't too far from Fred and George's joke shop. The sign over the door read _Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC_. From the look of the peeling gold paint, Dawn suspected that the sign was the original. A single wand on a faded purple pillow was on display in the window. 

The door opened into a small empty shop and a bell jingled somewhere in the back. There was a single stool in the small open space. Thousands of narrow boxes were stacked high against the wall. Harry looked around and smiled. "You know, it seems bigger when you aren't here with Hagrid." 

"So, you're back, Mr. Potter?" 

Dawn yipped, and jumped. She hadn't seen the old man appear. She was pleased to see that she wasn't the only one who had been startled. Ron, Harry and Hermione and all jumped too. 

"Hello, Mr. Ollivander," said Harry. 

"I hear that your wand is working out quite well for you, Mr. Potter," said Mr. Ollivander. "Eleven inches, supple, holly, and phoenix feather." 

"Yes, Mr. Ollivander, it has been most satisfactory," said Harry. 

"Any you, Mr. Weasley?" asked Ollivander. "Taking proper care of your wand? Willow, fourteen inches, unicorn tail hair. I sincerely hope that you are not here to replace it again?" 

"Oh no, Mr. Ollivander," said Ron quickly. "I'm taking very good care of it." He pulled his wand out of his pocket. "See, not even a scratch on it." 

Ollivander turned to look at Dawn. "So you must be Miss Summers. Dumbledore informed me that you would be requiring a wand. So which is your wand hand?" 

"Um, the right, I guess," said Dawn. 

"Very good." Mr Ollivander started measuring Dawn. The length of her arm, the circumference of her wrist, and every other body dimension imaginable, and some that Dawn had never imagined anyone measuring. He turned away and started selecting boxes from the stacks along the wall. Dawn's eyes went wide as the tape measure continued to take measurements. 

Mr. Ollivander started to talk as he selected boxes. Harry recognised his spiel from when he was here to get his wand. It seemed that he never changed it. "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Miss Summers. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course you will never get such good results from another witch's wand." 

He turned back to Dawn and held out an open box to her. "Here, give this one a try. Nine and a half inches, quite flexible, maple, with a unicorn hair core." 

Dawn picked up the wand and looked at it. It seemed awfully flimsy to her. 

"Go ahead, give it a flick," said Ollivander. 

"Like this?" Dawn flicked the wand in the air, and nothing happened. 

Mr. Ollivander snatched the wand out of her hand. "No, not that one." He gave her another. "Oak, ten inches, phoenix feather core." 

Dawn flicked again, and again nothing happened. "Maybe I'm not really cut out for this magic thing." 

Ollivander snatched the wand out of her hand. "Nonsense. I can feel your power. It's just a matter of finding the right match." He gave her another wand. "Ash, twelve and a quarter inches, dragon's heartstring." Dawn raised it to flick, but he snatched it away again. "Nope, not that one. I think you are going to be my biggest challenge since Mr. Potter here." 

"We tried out over a hundred before he found the right one for me," said Harry. 

"One hundred and thirty-four, Mr. Potter." Mr. Ollivander smiled at the memory. "Oh, yes, you were quite the challenge." 

Mr. Ollivander kept handing Dawn wands, and she kept flicking and swishing, and pretty much nothing kept happening. She was a little cheered when one sturdy little wand produced a couple of weak sparks, but Ollivander snatched it away too, and kept looking. Dawn's arm was starting to feel like it was ready to fall off from all the swishing. 

Mr. Ollivander was just getting more and more excited. "Oh, I haven't had a challenge like this in decades!" He disappeared into the back of his shop, and came back a little later with an armload of boxes. "The wand picks the witch, Miss Summers! We'll find a match for you yet!" 

Dawn kept swishing and flicking, and nothing kept happening. Even Mr. Ollivander's excitement began to wane. He looked around at the jumble of boxes that had been his nice neat little shop. "I really don't understand this…" He frowned at Dawn. "I always say that the wand picks the witch, but it's really a case of them picking each other. It's just that the wands are usually much more picky than the witches…Is there anything in particular about these wands that isn't meeting with _your_ approval?" 

"Not really," said Dawn. "Well… Most of them seem to be a little flimsy to me." 

"Flimsy, Miss Summers?" 

"Uh, yeah, it's, um, I can't help it. I pick up a piece of wood, and I can't help wondering how good a stake it would make…and most of these are kinda flimsy." 

"_Stake?_" Mr. Ollivander was looking quite aghast. 

"Yeah." Dawn picked up one of the wands, and made a stabbing motion with it. "For killing vampires." Mr. Ollivander was looking totally outraged. She remembered his question to Ron about how he was taking care of his wand when they came into the shop. "Not that I would ever do that with a wand!" she said quickly. "I mean if I had a wand it would probably be much easier to set it on fire or something." 

"You stake vampires?" asked Mr. Ollivander. 

"Well, only two, so far…and I missed the heart on the second one, but it's something I think about a lot." 

"Oh dear, oh dear," said Mr. Ollivander. He disappeared into his back room. He came back out carrying just one box. "I told you that I only use unicorn hairs, phoenix feathers, and dragon heartstrings in my wands. I should add that I only use items that have been freely given by their donors." 

"Dragons give their heartstrings voluntarily?" asked Dawn. 

"They can bequeath them in their wills," said Mr. Ollivander, "but that is beside the point. Other mystical creatures may also provide the cores for wands, such as the Veela hair in Miss Delacour's wand. A year and a half ago something quite extraordinary came on the market, and I'm afraid I couldn't resist the temptation to see what could be done with it." He opened the box, and showed its contents to Dawn. "Ebony, nine and a half inches." 

Dawn felt the wand calling to her. It was beautiful, deep midnight black and much more robust looking than any of the other wands she had seen. Half an inch in diameter, and tapering to a nice point. "Now _that_ you could stake something with!" She reached out and picked it up. It fit her hand perfectly. The ache in her arm muscles vanished and she swished it through the air. It left a trail that looked like green fireflies, that slowly settled toward the floor. 

"_Wicked!_" said Ron. 

Dawn smiled at him. "You start saying 'five by five' and I'll hit you." 

"Huh?" asked everyone. 

"Never mind." Dawn turned back to Mr. Ollivander. "You didn't say what the core was." 

"Well, yes, um, you see, there's a bit of a problem there." Mr. Ollivander was looking quite embarrassed. "The core actually inspired the shape of the wand." 

"It's not vampire blood is it? 'Cause that would be way creepy." 

"No! No! Nothing like that. Quite the opposite in fact. It is a hair from a Slayer." 

"Way cool!" said Dawn. 

"But I can not, in good conscience sell you that wand," said Mr. Ollivander. 

Dawn's face fell. "But— No! It feels so perfect!" 

"The wand is yours," said Mr. Ollivander. "I just can't sell it to you." 

"What do you mean?" asked Dawn. 

"Take it. I'm giving it to you. I'm afraid the dealer of the hair was someone of rather low reputation. I cannot in good conscience sell you that wand because I doubt if the Slayer gave it up voluntarily. The Doctor was reputed to be a most shady character." 

"The Doctor, huh?" asked Dawn. "Tell me, was this hair dyed blonde by any chance?" 

"No, no!" said Mr. Ollivander. "Dying the hair would quite destroy its mystical properties!" He started to turn quite red. "This hair had not been dyed." 

"Oh," said Dawn. "**_Oh!_** _Spike is so lucky he's dead! Buffy would rip him into tiny pieces!_" 

"What are you talking about?" asked Ron. Dawn looked around at him and saw the puzzled expression on his face, which matched the one on Harry's. Hermione was looking like she understood. 

"You so do not need to know," said Dawn. "If you ever did know it could be very hazardous to your health." 

Dawn turned back to Mr. Ollivander. "If you've got any more of those hairs, I suggest you burn them or something. Slayer hair isn't going to be such a rare commodity any more. I know several sources of it now…How much would you pay for some that a Slayer gave up willingly?" 

Dawn saw that Ron really perked up when he heard that question. He deflated again on hearing Mr. Ollivander's answer. "I do not pay. The hair must be freely given. Your wand was a one off experiment, I never meant to sell it." 

"Well, I for one am very glad you made it," said Dawn. "And if it will ease your conscience, why don't you come along…if you can leave your shop. I'll introduce you to my sister, the Slayer who donated the hair. She's probably starting to wonder what's taking us so long. I'm sure she'll give retroactive approval for its use in my wand." Dawn leaned closer to him. "Probably best not to mention that dye thing though," she whispered. 

"The Slayer is here?" asked Mr. Ollivander. 

"She's in the Cauldron, with Professor Dumbledore," said Harry. 

* * *

They left Ron and Hermione down on the ground floor of the Leaky Cauldron, and Harry took Dawn and Mr. Ollivander back up to the sitting room where Buffy and Giles were still discussing various things with Professor Dumbledore. Harry knocked on the door, and they were invited inside. 

Dawn introduced Buffy and Giles to Mr. Ollivander. "He's the man who made my wand!" She swished it through the air, leaving another trail of green fireflies. 

"Looks like it would make a good stake too!" said Buffy. 

Dawn saw the look on Ollivander's face. "Not that I would ever do that!" She smiled. "The best part is that _you_ are the magical being who provided its core!" 

"What?" asked Buffy. 

"I'm afraid I owe you a most profound apology, Miss Summers," said Mr. Ollivander. "But when some hair of the Slayer came onto the market eighteen months ago, I couldn't resist the temptation. I had to see what sort of wand could be made with it." 

"Eighteen months…" Buffy thought about that for a couple of seconds. "Spike! Selling my hair. I oughta have Willow resurrect him, just so I can stake him!" 

Ollivander hung his head. "Again, my most profound apologies, Miss Summers. Your sister's wand is the only one I made with that hair, and I never intended it for sale, in fact I am gifting it to your sister." 

"Oh, stop apologising," said Buffy. "I'm not upset with you. Just mildly annoyed at certain peroxided vampire." She pulled at a couple of strands of her hair. "You want some more?" 

"Oh, no! I couldn't! And, um…" 

"I'll explain it to her later." Dawn gave Mr. Ollivander a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "In private." 

Mr. Ollivander managed to say goodbye to Buffy without apologising again. He left the room. Dawn turned to her sister. "So, you going to tell me why I get a wand?" 

"Dawn, how would you like to go to school at Hogwarts?" 

"A _boarding_ school?" Buffy could hear the indignation in Dawn's voice. 

Dumbledore laughed. "I assure you Miss Summers, it's not that bad. Harry here quite enjoys it." 

"Hogwarts is great!" said Harry. "You'll love it!" 

"Nothing has been decided yet, but Professor Dumbledore has invited us up to Hogwarts for a couple of weeks to take a look at the place," said Buffy. "If Ginny takes up our offer, I'll probably be dropping in there to check on her from time to time anyway." 

"I want to stay with you," said Dawn. 

"I know, but we've talked about this," said Buffy. "You have to go back to school, so we'll have to settle you down somewhere. I'm going to be travelling all the time, checking on the girls, going where I'm needed. I'm not tied down to the Hellmouth anymore." Buffy smiled. "And Mr. Dumbledore wants Willow to spend some time there too, so you may have some company with you." 

"But—" 

"Nothing's been decided yet, but we're going to take a look at it," said Buffy. "We're leaving Saturday. I understand that it's a castle in Scotland. Complete with ghosts." 

"Oh yeah!" said Harry. "Nearly Headless Nick is a great guy, but you'll want to stay away from the Bloody Baron, or Peeves the Poltergeist. Peeves is worse than Fred and George." 

They took their leave of Professor Dumbledore, and Harry led Dawn, Buffy and Giles back downstairs where Buffy got introduced to Hermione and Ron. Dawn made another date with them, to go see the movie that they'd missed the day before, and she and Buffy left to go back to their hotel. 

* * *

Giles was cleaning up in his room, which adjoined the one being shared by Buffy and Dawn. He was startled by the sudden shout he could hear through the door. "**_My what!_** _Oh, he's so lucky he's dead!_ _I should have Willow resurrect him, just so I can kill him again!_ **_Slowly!_**" 

Giles knocked on the connecting door. "_What?_" asked Buffy. 

Giles opened the door slowly, half afraid that something might get thrown his way. When nothing hit the door, or bounced off the frame he opened it the rest of the way and looked in at Buffy and Dawn. Buffy was looking very angry, and Dawn was smirking. "Is there a problem?" he asked. 

"_No!_" said Buffy. Giles raised his eyebrow at her. "Okay, yes, but it's nothing we can do anything about. It's over. It's done, but if anyone ever does resurrect Spike, I am _so_ going to kick his ass!" 

"Spike?" asked Giles. 

"You really don't want to know Giles," said Dawn. She was still smirking. 

Buffy turned and glared at her sister. "And if you don't wipe that smirk off your face, missy, I'm going to kick your ass too! Anyone else know about this?" 

"Um…I think Hermione guessed," said Dawn, "but I don't think the others did." 

"Others?" 

"Ron and Harry were there, but they just looked confused." Dawn glanced at Giles. "Kinda like him right now." 

"What are you talking about?" asked Giles. 

"Dawn was right, Giles," said Buffy. "You don't want to know." 

"Um, well, in that case, are you two ready for dinner?" asked Giles. 


	9. Hogwarts Express

Buffy, Giles and Dawn walked quickly through King's Cross station. "Hurry up you two!" he said. "We're going to be late! The train leaves at 10:00." He had a suitcase in one hand, and a garment bag slung over his shoulder. 

"Giles, relax, we've still got ten minutes," said Dawn. She was carrying a couple of suitcases of her own. "Now, where were we supposed to catch the train?" 

"Professor Dumbledore said there would be someone waiting for us between platforms nine and ten," said Giles. 

"And there they are," said Buffy. She pointed with the guitar case in her right hand. She had her own suitcase in her left. 

Dawn looked where Buffy had pointed and saw Harry and Hermione waving to them from near the barrier between the platforms. She hurried toward them. "Hey guys!" She looked around. There didn't seem to be any trains ready to depart. "Where do we catch the train?" 

Harry smiled at her. "Through here." He took a quick look around to make sure no one was looking, leaned against the barrier, and vanished. 

"Whoa!" said Dawn. 

"The leaning thing takes a bit of practice," said Hermione. "The first time it works best if you take a little run at it." 

Buffy gave her a look. "You realise that if I smack my head into a wall, I can kick you from here to the other side of the station." Hermione just laughed. Buffy looked at Dawn. "You first." 

Dawn gave Hermione a look too. "I may not be able to kick it across the station, but I can probably kick your ass too." She took a deep breath and looked at the wall. "Here goes." She walked quickly toward the wall, accelerating into a run. She closed her eyes just before she thought she was about to hit it, and was surprised when nothing happened. She took a couple more steps as she tried to slow down. She opened her eyes and saw a luggage cart right in front of her that she was about to run into. 

Dawn felt a pair of arms grab her just before the collision would have happened. The arms belonged to Harry, and he kept her from smacking into the cart that was piled high with luggage. There were a couple of cages on top, one with a large ginger cat, and the other with Harry's snowy owl. They were keeping a suspicious eye on each other. 

Harry smiled at Dawn. "Here, let me take those." He took her suitcases, and added them to the cart. It was getting piled dangerously high. 

Dawn looked around. "Maybe we should find another cart, to split the load." She stopped talking though when she saw where she was. It was like she'd moved into a whole different train station, from an earlier century. There was a bright red steam engine by the platform, hissing and smoking. The sign overhead proclaimed that they were on platform nine and three quarters. 

Dawn turned toward the wrought iron archway behind her just in time to see Buffy appear in it. Buffy had kept her eyes open, and managed to stop much more quickly than Dawn had. She looked around too. 

"Uh, you might want to step out of the way, before Mr. Giles runs into you," said Harry. 

"Oh! Right!" Buffy took a couple of quick steps forward just in time to avoid the collision. Giles hadn't actually worked up to a run, he was moving at more of a brisk walk. Hermione came through right behind him. 

Harry offered to take Buffy's bags. She let him add her suitcase to the stack on the cart, but she kept the guitar case herself. Giles took one look at the precarious pile, and decided he could manage to carry his bags the rest of the way himself. 

Dawn took another look at the train. It was a very short one. Just the engine, with a couple of coaches behind it. "Not a lot of people going anywhere today?" She looked around the platform. They were nearly the only people on it. 

"Just us and Professor Lupin," said Harry. "September first, this place is a madhouse, with all the kids going back to school." 

"You're coming too?" asked Dawn. 

"Yeah," said Hermione. "Professor Dumbledore thought you should have a couple of native guides. Now we better get moving, or we'll miss the train!" 

"Hermione, we're the only passengers," said Harry. "It won't leave without us." 

"Honestly, Harry! Just once, before you graduate, you really _must_ read _Hogwarts: A History_. The Hogwarts Express must adhere to its schedule very precisely in order to slip through the Muggle rail system unnoticed. People will not be pleased if we make it late, and they have to reshuffle everything. Now come on!" 

Harry pushed their cart to the end coach of the train. Most of their luggage was offloaded into its baggage compartment. Harry kept Hedwig and Hermione kept the cat, who she introduced to everyone as Crookshanks. Buffy still refused to let go of her guitar case. 

There were only a couple of people on the platform to see them off. Hermione quickly introduced Buffy, Dawn and Giles to her parents. The train whistle blew. 

"Oh, I gotta go!" Hermione gave her parents one more hug and kiss each, and climbed up onto the train after the others. "Bye! I'll write!" 

The train lurched into motion as they moved down the aisle between compartments. Professor Lupin stuck his head out of one up ahead, and called for them to come join him. The compartment would have been awfully crowded with all six of them in it, so Giles suggested that Buffy and the kids take the next compartment, while he joined Lupin. 

They all settled into their seats. Harry and Hermione let Buffy and Dawn have the window seats. Hermione released Crookshanks from his carrying cage, and let him sit in her lap. 

Harry nodded toward the case that Buffy had leaned against the seat beside her knee. "You play guitar?" 

"She can't play a single chord," said Dawn. 

"So why the guitar?" asked Hermione. 

Buffy looked at Dawn. "You think they'd like to see it?" 

Dawn smiled back. "Yeah, I think they'd like to see it." 

"Okay." Buffy lifted the case into her lap, and released the catches. She opened it. 

Harry's eyes opened wide. "Wow!" He had never seen anything like it. "To quote Ron: 'Wicked!'" 

"Isn't it?" asked Buffy. She pulled the Scythe out of the guitar case she used to carry it around in public. She held it by the hand grip down near its blade, which shone with a jewel like luster. The long handle ended with a sharp wooden stake. "It does make music though." She twirled the Scythe in the air in front of her and the blade sang. 

"That's it?" asked Hermione. "That's what you used to make Ginny a Slayer?" 

"Yep," said Buffy. "But if you want to see real magic, you should see what it takes to get this onto an airplane in your carry on luggage." She smiled. "No way I'm checking this as baggage. It might disappear for _another_ ten thousand years." Willow had placed some serious enchantments on that guitar case. When X-rayed it looked like it had a guitar inside, and there were several layers of aversion spells to keep anyone who wasn't supposed to from opening it. 

Buffy put the Scythe back in its case. "Not really room in here to give you a real demo, wouldn't want to take someone's head off." 

They settled back to enjoy the trip. Harry and Hermione told Dawn about their professors, and their classes, and about the Hogwarts houses, named after the witches and wizards who had founded the school. "Gryffindor is the best," said Harry. 

"Let me guess," said Dawn. "You're in Gryffindor." 

"Well, yeah, but I knew it was the best before I ever joined it." Harry pointed at Hermione. "She told me. She was a really stuck up, annoying little know-it-all bookworm back then, but she spoke with conviction. 

"Gryffindors are the best, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs are good to. There are some really good guys in both those houses. You _don't_ want to be in Slytherin! Worst house in the school." 

"So how do they pick what house you go in?" asked Dawn. 

"The Sorting Hat does it," said Hermione. 

"The Sorting Hat?" asked Buffy. 

"It's an enchanted hat, created by the founders," said Hermione. "You put it on and it kinda reads your mind, looking for the qualities that each of them prized. It then picks which house you go into. 

"Gryffindor prized daring and bravery, Ravenclaw intelligence and learning, Hufflepuff loyalty and hard work, Slytherin cunning and ruthless ambition. Slytherins are a bunch of scheming weasels." 

"And ferrets," said Harry. "Don't forget Malfoy the amazing bouncing ferret." He and Hermione both laughed at the memory. Buffy and Dawn just looked at them. 

"I'm having a flashback to Willow and Xander and 'Be my deputy!'" said Buffy. 

"What?" asked Dawn. 

"Oh, it was a conversation between them about Cordelia, my first year at Sunnydale High," said Buffy. "Completely incomprehensible to anyone who wasn't present at the incident being discussed." 

"Oh, sorry," said Harry. "One of our professors a couple of years ago got annoyed with Malfoy—he's pretty much the _worst_ of the Slytherins—and transfigured him into a ferret. And then bounced him all around the hall." 

"_Professors_ do things like that?" asked Buffy. "Maybe we should turn this train around." 

"Oh, no!" said Harry. "That was Mad Eye Moody…actually it was someone _impersonating_ Mad Eye Moody who turned out to be working for Voldemort, and Professor McGonagall caught him—she's the Deputy Headmistress—and read him the riot act. That sort of thing is totally against the rules. Standard punishments are points taken from your house, and detentions spent scrubbing Snape's cauldrons by hand and things like that." 

"Oh, good," said Buffy. "Dawn could work on her pot scrubbing." 

"Hey!" said Dawn. "I've never seen you doing much of it!" 

The train continued northward. At noon a woman appeared with the lunch cart. She smiled at Buffy and Dawn. "Could you please pull in your feet a little, dears?" she asked. 

Buffy and Dawn had both been reclining back in their seats, with their feet stretched out comfortably in front of them. They sat up a little straighter, and pulled their feet in. 

"Thank you." The witch gestured with her wand, and a table grew up out of the floor between the seats. She laid out four small covered trays, that looked suspiciously like airplane meal trays to Buffy, on the table in front of them, and handed out menu cards. "So what would you like?" 

Buffy scanned the card, looking over the choices available, and thinking that the question should have been asked before she was given the tray. "Umm, I'll have the fish and chips, please?" 

"Very good." The witch tapped the tray in front of Buffy with her wand. 

_Fwhoop!_ The tray transformed in an instant into steaming hot plate of fish and chips. 

"Whoa!" Buffy and Dawn both started in their seats. 

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you dears," said the witch. "Now what would you like to drink?" 

Buffy scanned the menu list again. Many of the beverages on it had unfamiliar names to her, so she asked for a glass of milk. Another tap of the wand and a glass appeared in front of Buffy. The witch turned to Dawn. "And what would you like?" 

Dawn ordered the clubhouse sandwich, and when asked what she'd like to drink, Harry and Hermione recommended that she try the butterbeer. 

"I think she's a little young yet for beer," said Buffy. 

"Oh, no!" said Hermione. "It's non-alcoholic, kind of like rootbeer, only sort of butterscotch flavoured." 

"Okay, I'll try that," said Dawn. 

The witch tapped her wand, and a tall glass of light brown, foaming liquid appeared in front of Dawn. She picked it up and took a cautious sip from it. "Hey, pretty good. Thank you!" 

Harry ordered a hamburger, and Hermione a roast beef sandwich, and they both got butterbeers to go with them. The witch moved down the aisle to serve Professor Lupin and Giles. 

"Why don't we get service like this on the school train?" asked Harry around a mouthful of hamburger. 

"Don't be silly," said Hermione. "Could you imagine how long it would take to feed four hundred kids this way? And Fred and George would have probably just started a food fight anyway." She bit into her sandwich. 

The witch came back about half an hour later with the dessert cart, and tea and coffee. Buffy just had a coffee, while Dawn, Harry and Hermione got tea, and pumpkin pasties. 

Harry left the compartment to visit the toilet when lunch was finished. Dawn had been waiting for the chance to ask Hermione a couple of questions when he wasn't around. "So, does Harry have a girlfriend?" Buffy laughed. "What?" asked Dawn. "He's cute!" 

Hermione laughed too. "Yes he's cute, but you'll never get me to admit it in front of him, and no he doesn't have a girlfriend right now. He had a crush on Cho Chang in third and fourth years, and he dated her a bit last year, but nothing came of it, and Ginny used to have an enormous crush on him, but I think she's pretty much gotten over it…at least she can talk when he's around her now." 

"What about you?" asked Dawn. 

"Harry and Ron have been my best friends since we were eleven," said Hermione. "But there's nothing 'boyfriendly' between us." 

"So Harry's available?" 

Hermione smiled. "Yes, he's available. You should probably take up Quidditch though if you really want to attract his attention. Cho is the Ravenclaw Seeker." 

"What's Quidditch?" asked Buffy. 

"Only the best sport _ever!_" said Harry, who had just gotten back. 

"Harry is pretty mad about Quidditch," said Hermione. 

"It's 'the sport of warlocks,'" said Harry. "Everyone follows it." 

"How do you play?" asked Dawn. 

"There are seven players on each team," said Harry. "The Keeper, two Beaters, three Chasers, and the Seeker. I'm Gryffindor's Seeker. Ginny played Seeker for us last year while I was suspended, but now that I'm back she's planning to try out for Chaser. Ron's our Keeper. The main ball is called the Quaffle, and the Chasers try to score by throwing it through the other team's goal hoops. The Keeper guards the hoops, and tries to keep the Quaffle out. There are a couple of Bludgers that the Beaters knock around with bats, keeping them away from our own players, and trying to knock the other team's players off their brooms." 

"Wait a minute," said Dawn. "Did you just say 'brooms?'" 

"Oh, didn't I mention that?" asked Harry. "You play on flying brooms." His grin told Dawn he had deliberately left that bit out until the end. 

"Flying brooms." Dawn looked at Hermione. "Is he having us on?" 

"Nope," said Hermione. "Really living up to the stereotype, aren't we?" 

Buffy grinned. "Some of the 'witches' in the UCSunnydale Wiccan group would be so disappointed." 

"So what does the Seeker do?" asked Dawn. 

"The Seeker catches the Snitch," said Harry. "Catch the Golden Snitch, and you score 150 points and end the game." 

"So how much does scoring with the Quaffle get you?" asked Buffy. 

"Ten points." 

"Oookay," said Buffy. "Let's see if I've got this straight. You've got a dozen players, flying around on their brooms with the Quaffle and Bludgers and stuff, working hard to score ten points a shot, and you've got a couple of Seekers chasing after this Golden Snitch thing, and when they catch it, they score 150 points, and the game's over." 

"That pretty much sums it up," said Hermione. 

"So unless you've got a real blowout going, where one team gets more than 150 points ahead of the other, 90 percent of the action is irrelevant to who wins the game," said Buffy. 

"That's a fairly accurate assessment," said Hermione. "But for some reason that doesn't seem to bother anyone. For tournament play, if there's a tie in the number of games won by the two leading teams, it's decided by total points scored, so all that other stuff _is_ important. A couple of years ago, Gryffindor went into the final game one win and 200 points behind, so we had to win the game by more than 200 points to win the cup." 

"And did you?" asked Dawn. 

"230 to 20," said Harry. 

"But how often does that sort of situation come up?" asked Buffy. 

"It's not uncommon," said Hermione. "Last year was decided by total points too. Total scores also get added to House points, so they can affect the winning of the House Cup at the end of the year." 

Dawn asked the other question that she'd been wondering about off and on since the first lunch with Harry. "So how'd you get that scar?" 

The smiles instantly left Harry and Hermione's faces. 

"Oh god, I just put my foot in it again didn't I?" asked Dawn. 

"You couldn't know," said Harry. "It happened when my parents died. Lord Voldemort, he's an evil wizard, tried to kill me. My parents tried to stop him, and he killed them, and then he tried to kill me, and I got this." Harry pointed to his forehead. 

"Harry's the Boy Who Lived," said Hermione. "There is no defense against Voldemort's killing curse. No one that it has ever been used on has ever survived, except for Harry. For some reason the curse backfired on him, and it nearly killed Voldemort. He was left nearly powerless." 

"Not nearly enough," said Harry. 

"It took him until a year ago to really start to recover," said Hermione. "Most people didn't want to believe it, even then. It was only last spring that he 'went public' in a way that they couldn't deny." 

"Why would a powerful wizard want to kill a baby?" asked Dawn. 

"A prophecy," said Harry. "There is a prophecy that says that either Voldemort will kill me, or I'll kill him. He decided to take action while I wasn't able to defend myself, to make sure he came out the winner." 

"He really should have been smart enough to know that it's best to ignore prophecies," said Buffy. 

"But some prophecies are true," said Harry. 

"Those are the ones you should ignore the most," said Buffy. "It was a true prophecy that got me killed the first time." 

"Killed?" asked Harry. 

"First time?" asked Hermione. 

"Boy Who Lived," said Dawn. "Meet the Girl Who Died…Twice." 

"Huh?" 

"There was this really old and powerful vampire called the Master," said Buffy. 

"Oh, I've read about him!" said Hermione. "He disappeared about seventy years ago!" 

"He moved to Sunnydale about seventy years ago, tried to open the Hellmouth, and got trapped inside it instead," said Buffy. "But there was this prophecy that said that he'd escape, kill the Slayer, and open the Hellmouth. Well, I couldn't let that happen, even if I died trying to stop it. Opening the Hellmouth would allow the demons to take over the world, so I went down to face him. I lost, he fed off me, and _that's_ what gave him the power to open the Hellmouth and escape. He dropped me face first into a pool of water, and I drowned." 

"Uh, you're here." Harry looked out the window at the passing scenery. "World seems pretty demon free." 

"Lucky for me and the world I have friends," said Buffy. "A couple of them, Xander and Angel, had followed me down, and they pulled me out of the pool of water, and Xander did CPR, and revived me. Then I kicked the Master's ass, and the Hellmouth closed up again before anything could get all the way out. 

"Anyway, point of the story: Prophecies: Best to ignore 'em, _especially_ when they're true, because even then, they don't tell the whole story. There's always something they leave out which will come back and bite you on the ass. Your Valdywart guy should have known that." 

Harry thought for a second. He had never told anyone about what Professor Dumbledore had told him about the prophecy. What he had shown him in the pensive. "'_The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches. Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies. And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not. And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives. The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies._'" 

"That's the prophecy?" asked Buffy. 

"But I thought no one heard it when it got broken!" said Hermione. 

"It wasn't heard then," said Harry. "Dumbledore heard it when it was first made. He told it to me." 

"Pretty damn vague," said Buffy. "Trying to make a decision based on it is a pretty pointless thing to do." 

"But my parents are dead because of it," said Harry, "Because of _me._ And Voldemort is still trying to kill me before I can kill him." 

Buffy looked at Harry and thought a bit. "Moldywart is a very dangerous wizard, right? His killing curse had an impressive 'never fails' record before he came up against you." 

"Yeah," said Harry. "So?" 

"So your parents had already defied him three times, and still lived. I get the impression that's a pretty good track record too. I doubt if most people who defied him ever got a second chance to try. Do you think your parents would have stopped defying him?" 

"Never!" said Harry. 

"So how long do you think it would have taken him to get around to your parents, even without you and the prophecy?" asked Buffy. "Their deaths have nothing to do with you. It sounds to me like they died because they were good people who wouldn't sit by and let Evil have its way. It's Moldywart's fault that they're dead. Because of you though, the world got what? Fifteen years without him…pretty good." 

They rode in silence for a while. Buffy looked out the window of the train. They were moving into more mountainous terrain and the sun was sinking toward the horizon. Buffy couldn't help noticing that while she could see perfectly well through the train window, the sun itself looked like she was seeing it through heavily tinted glass. She thought that was a pretty neat trick. 

"You died twice," said Harry suddenly. 

Buffy took her eyes off the scenery, and looked back into the compartment at him. "Yeah, I did." 

"How did you die the second time?" 

Buffy looked across at her sister. "In a way, I suppose it was kinda like your parents. I died to save Dawnie. There was this rift that had been opened, breaking down the barriers between the worlds, and if it stayed open, it would have destroyed everything. The only way to close it was for Dawn or me to die, so I chose me." 

"And how'd you come back?" asked Harry. 

"My friends again," said Buffy. "Only this time they used a little resurrection spell." 

"Oh, my god, _no!_" said Hermione. 

"Wait," said Harry, "There are resurrection spells? We can bring them back?" 

"Harry! No!" said Hermione. 

"But my parents! Sirius! We can bring them back!" 

"You don't want to do that Harry," said Buffy softly. 

"_Why not?_" 

"Because I was in Heaven," said Buffy. "Getting ripped out of there, forced back to earth…it was horrible. I was miserable, and depressed, and damn near suicidal for the next six months, and I made all my friends miserable and depressed too. It wasn't until nearly a year later that I would start describing myself as 'happy' again." 

"Um…if you don't mind my asking…who's Sirius?" asked Dawn. 

"My godfather," said Harry. "Someone else who died because of me." 

"It wasn't your fault, Harry," said Hermione. 

"Yes it was! I fell for Voldemort's trick! You tried to warn me, but I went anyway! I had to try to be a hero, and Sirius died saving me." 

"He died saving _us_," said Hermione. "It wasn't just you. It was you, me, Ron, Ginny, Neville and Luna. We all went. We checked as best we could, and in the end we had to go because we couldn't risk that it _wasn't_ a trick. And we'd all do it again, if we had to." 

"I know how you feel Harry," said Dawn. "Buffy died because of me. People I love were tortured by someone who wanted to find me. But if Buffy dies again…I'll miss her horribly, but I won't want anyone to bring her back. I don't want to do that to her. Not again." 


	10. Hogwarts

The group rode on in silence together. The sun was nearly touching the mountain tops when the train began to slow. "Here we are," said Harry. "Hogsmeade station. End of the line." He picked up Hedwig and Hermione returned Crookshanks to his own cage. Giles and Lupin were already out of their compartment, and everyone followed them down the aisle and off the train after it pulled to a stop. 

Dawn looked around at what looked like a train station platform for a small village as they moved back to where the baggage car was being unloaded…actually, it seemed to be unloading itself. Harry and Hermione put Hedwig and Crookshanks onto the carts that their trunks had been placed on. 

There really wasn't much for Dawn to see. A fringe of fir trees to the north cut off the view that way, and the train cut off the view to the south. A narrow slice of what might be a very nice sunset was visible to the west, and to the east…was the biggest man Dawn had ever seen. He was at least ten feet tall and had a thick dark bushy beard and hair. He was wearing a black overcoat, with lots of big pockets in it. 

He came lumbering toward them. "Welcome back Harry!" he bellowed. "And 'Mione too! I wasn' expectin' to see yeh for another three weeks! The Professor told me tha' there was a surprise comin', but I didn' expec' it to be you! 

"And Professor Lupin! Now yer I was expectin'! Glad ter see tha' they finally came ter their senses, and hired ya back!" 

"Hagrid!" cried Harry. "Good to see you too! It's good to be back! How's Fang?" 

"Fang'll be glad ter see ya!" said Hagrid. "Now are yer goin' ter introduce me to yer new friends?" 

"Oh, yeah," said Harry. He turned to Dawn, Buffy and Giles. "This is Rubeus Hagrid. Professor of Care of Magical Creatures, and Keeper of the Keys and Grounds of Hogwarts. Hagrid, this is Dawn Summers, her sister Buffy, and their friend Mr. Rupert Giles." 

Hagrid held out his hand to each in turn. "Glad ter make yer acquaintance!" Dawn was surprised by how gentle the grip of his huge hand was around her own. "So what brings yer ta Hogwarts?" 

"Dawn may be coming to school here this year," said Harry. "She's kind of an American exchange student. Professor Dumbledore invited them up to have a look around before they make up their minds." 

"Oh, there's no finer school than Hogwarts!" said Hagrid. "I'm sure you'll decide to stay!" He waved for them to follow. "Come along then! Since yer new, we'll take the boats across! Follow me!" 

Giles pointed back toward the baggage coach. "Ah, what about out bags?" 

"Don't worry yerself about them!" said Hagrid. "Everything will be taken care of! This way now!" 

Hagrid led them along a narrow path that wound its way down a steep slope between the trees. The trees opened up and Dawn found herself on the shore of a small lake. It's surface was lightly rippled by the slight evening breeze. Across the lake, perched on top of a cliff was a castle, its turrets shining red and gold in the light from the setting sun. "Wow!" said Dawn. 

Hagrid let them all look at the view for a couple of minutes. "Alright then! Everyone into the boats. Two to a boat I think. We do four with the firs' years, but yer all a might bigger than they are." 

Dawn got into one of the boats with Harry, and Buffy and Hermione got into another. Giles and Professor Lupin took the third. Hagrid took the fourth boat for himself. Dawn wondered if it would actually be able to float with his huge bulk in it. She also wondered how the boats were supposed to move. She couldn't see any sign of a motor, and there weren't any oars or paddles. 

Hagrid fished a pink umbrella out of a pocket in his coat. "Right then! FORWARD!" He pointed toward the castle. 

The little fleet of boats pushed off from the shore and skimmed quickly across the water. Dawn watched the cliff on which the castle was perched grow rapidly ahead of them. She glanced down at the water and thought she saw something moving beneath her. She looked closer, and saw a huge eye looking back at her. 

She grabbed Harry's arm and gave it a shake. "There's something down there!" She pointed at the eye. 

Harry looked. "Oh, that's the giant squid." 

"Giant squid?" 

"Yeah, it always follows the boats across, in case someone falls out." 

"So it can eat them?" 

Harry laughed. "No, so it can put them back into the boat. It's kinda the lifeguard for the lake." 

The boats started to slow, and Dawn looked ahead again. She saw they were moving toward a curtain of ivy hanging down the cliff. 

"Heads down everyone!" called Hagrid. Dawn ducked as her boat moved through the curtain, into a low passage cut through the rock. It was pitch dark at first, until Hagrid lit a lamp that she hadn't noticed he had before. The boats moved through the passage until it opened up into a small underground lagoon, and Dawn's boat came to rest on a pebble beach. 

Everyone climbed out of their boats. Hagrid lifted the lamp and led them toward a steep passage that led up through the rock. "This way then!" 

The passage opened up onto a smooth grass lawn, near the main entrance to the castle. The wall loomed above Dawn. She craned her neck, but she was too close now to get a good look at it. She turned her back to the castle and looked to the west, where the sun had just vanished behind the mountains. The clouds in the sky were painted with red and gold, and a broad lawn sloped down away from her toward what looked like some sort of large stadium. "Oh this is beautiful!" 

"It is a mighty fine sight, but come on now! Don't want ter keep the Professor waiting!" Hagrid went up the broad steps to the front door of the castle, raised his huge fist, and knocked three times. 

The huge doors swung open. Hagrid led them into the main entrance hall, lit by torches in brackets on the wall. "The Professor is expecting you all. Yer can leave yer guitar here, Miss, if yer like. It'll be taken up to yer room for ya." 

Buffy smiled up at Hagrid. "No, that's fine. I like to keep it with me." 

"Okay then. This way!" Hagrid led them up the marble staircase. 

Dawn looked around at the paintings on the walls, and was surprised to see them looking back. It wasn't just the eyes that followed her the way they seemed to do in some paintings. People in the paintings were moving around, and some even waved to her. "Just when I think I've seen the weirdest thing possible, it gets weirder," she whispered to herself. 

Harry had overheard her comment. "I know. I've been coming here for five years now, and I still keep finding stuff that's weirder." 

Hagrid led them up a couple of flights of stairs, and down a long corridor. He stopped by a statue of a gargoyle standing beside an opening in the wall. Through the opening was a spiral staircase, moving upward like an escalator. 

"Here's where I leave yer," said Hagrid. "I have ter get back ter feed Fluffy. He gets a might rambunctious when he's hungry. Go on up, the Professor's waiting." 

Everyone stepped through the door and onto the stairway that carried them upward. Dawn heard the scraping of stone on stone, and looked back just in time to see the hole in the wall seal itself shut. 

The spiral stairway carried them upward. Dawn tried to count the revolutions to get some idea of how high they were being taken, but she was soon too disoriented. The stairway finally ended at a small landing in front of a polished oak door. Professor Lupin waited until everyone had arrived before he took hold of the griffon shaped brass knocker, and knocked on the door. 

The door opened silently. "Come in!" They could see Dumbledore, getting up from behind his desk and coming around to greet them. "Come in! Welcome to Hogwarts. I hope you had a pleasant journey." 

Everyone filed through the door. Dawn looked around the circular office. There were shelves full of books. Portraits of witches and wizards hung on the walls, most of them appeared to be asleep. There were tables on which rested all sorts of strange devices. Dawn couldn't guess what most of them could possibly do. She glanced toward Dumbledore, and saw he was smiling, and waiting for his visitors to have a good look around. Dawn's eyes were drawn to a beautiful bird with bright red and gold plumage that nearly looked like it was on fire, roosting on a stand behind Dumbledore's desk. 

"Good lord!" said Giles. "Is that a phoenix?" 

"Yes, indeed he is," said Dumbledore. "Fawkes has been my most faithful companion for many years now." 

"I'm glad to see he's fully recovered," said Harry. 

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "Yes, like a certain Slayer, phoenixes refuse to stay dead." 

Dumbledore went back to his desk. "So, to business! Remus, your old rooms and office have been made ready for you. Everything Professor Umbridge left behind has been tossed in the trash. Miss Summers, and Miss Summers, your things have been taken to the Gryffindor girl's dormitory, where you will be staying with Hermione. Mr. Giles' things have been placed in the room beneath Harry's. They can show you the way, once we are finished here. 

"Now, Dawn. We can sort you into your house now, or we can wait and do it at the start of the term, when we sort the first years. It's up to you." 

"Um, but I haven't made up my mind yet about whether I want to come here," said Dawn nervously. 

"Quite true," said Dumbledore, "but the sorting places no obligation on you, and may help you make up your mind." 

Dawn thought about it a bit. If she waited to be sorted with the first years, it would mean that she had already accepted the offer to come to Hogwarts, and it would be too late to back out. What if the hat put her into Slytherin? From what Harry and Hermione had said about it on the trip up, she really didn't think she'd like spending a year there. Best to find out early. "Okay, sort me now." 

"Very well." Dumbledore got up from his desk chair again, and picked up a battered old witch's hat from the shelf behind it. "If you'll just step over here." 

Dawn came forward, and Dumbledore placed the hat on her head. It was much too big for her, and came down over her ears and nearly covered her eyes. "Oh, this is most interesting!" said a quiet voice in her ear. "A very difficult choice indeed." 

'What?' thought Dawn. She had been warned by Harry and Hermione that the hat would talk to her and could read her thoughts, and managed to keep her question from being spoken out loud. 

"You would do well in any of the houses," said the hat. "Very sharp wits, and a love of learning would serve you well in Ravenclaw. Hard worker, loyal to your friends matches well with Hufflepuff. You have bravery to spare for Gryffindor, and a cunning and ambition that would make you an excellent Slytherin." 

'Not Slytherin!' thought Dawn. 

"Ah, you have been talking with Harry Potter, I see," said the hat. "Are you sure? You want to get out from under your sister's shadow, really accomplish something on your own, show everyone that you too can do great things. There's more to you than being the Key, or the Slayer's little sister. Slytherin could help you do that." 

'_Not! Slytherin!_' thought Dawn, even harder. 

"Oh very well," said the hat. "GRYFFINDOR!" 

Harry and Hermione cheered and applauded as Dumbledore took the hat off Dawn's head and returned it to its place on the shelf. He waited for them to settle down before he spoke again. "Harry, and Hermione, why don't you show our guests to their rooms, give them a bit of a chance to clean up and rest from their trip. Dinner will be served in one hour in the Great Hall. Remus, if you would care to stay behind, there are a couple of things I would like to discuss with you about your classes." 

"Okay Professor," said Hermione. She and Harry led Dawn Buffy and Giles back out to the spiral staircase, which was now turning the other direction. 

"What happens if someone's coming to see Dumbledore at the same time someone else is leaving?" asked Dawn as they rode the stairs back down. 

"I don't know," said Harry. "I've never passed anyone coming or going." 

The wall was open again when they got back to the bottom, but the opening closed up again immediately after they had passed through it. The stone gargoyle that had stood beside it shuffled over and settled down again, making the entrance invisible to anyone who didn't know where it was. 

"I guess Dumbledore doesn't like visitors," said Dawn as she followed Harry and Hermione back down the hall. 

"It's not that," said Harry. "It's more like the castle has a mania for hidden doors and secret passageways. Pretty much everyone knows where the door to Dumbledore's office is, and his password isn't hard to guess either. Just keep trying different types of candies or desserts." 

"Password?" asked Dawn. 

"Yeah, say the right password, and the gargoyle steps aside and the door opens," said Harry. "Of course if Dumbledore _really_ doesn't want to be disturbed even knowing the right password won't let you in." 

They started up the stairs toward Gryffindor tower. "Hey, Hermione?" asked Harry. "The Professor didn't say anything. What's _our_ password?" 

"I don't know," said Hermione. "Hopefully we'll find out when we get there, or maybe they haven't changed it from last year yet." She hopped over a step. "Watch your step. That one's not really there, it's an illusion." 

Dawn poked her foot at the step, and saw it appear to sink into it. "Huh? What's the school's liability insurance like, for, you know, when someone falls and breaks their neck?" 

Harry laughed. "There's a kinda safety net spell that catches you if you do that. No one's been injured by it yet, but lots of kids have scattered books all the way down to the ground floor." 

They continued up the stairs until they came to the seventh floor corridor where the entrance into Gryffindor tower lay. Dawn saw that there was a woman waiting for them by a painting of a fat lady. She was tall and stern looking, with black hair, streaked with grey, pulled back into a bun at the back of her head. She was wearing a tall pointed hat, and an emerald green cloak. She looked at them through rectangular spectacles. 

"Hello Professor McGonagall!" said Hermione. 

"Hello Miss Granger, and you too, Mr. Potter," said McGonagall. "Back to start your mischief early this year I see." 

"Hello Professor," said Harry. "Um, this is Dawn Summers, and her sister Buffy, and their friend Mr. Giles. Dawn may be coming to school here this term, and she just got sorted into Gryffindor!" 

"So Professor Dumbledore has informed me," said McGonagall. "Welcome to Hogwarts Miss Summers. The password is 'Queerditch Marsh.'" 

The fat lady in the painting bowed slightly. "You may enter," she said, and the painting swung open like a door, revealing a round opening in the wall. 

"Show our guests to their rooms, and then I'll see you at dinner," said Professor McGonagall. She turned and swept away down the hall. 

Harry and Hermione showed them into the Gryffindor common room, with its comfortable chairs, and a cheery fire burning in the large fire place. "Professor McGonagall is the Deputy Headmistress, and she's the head of Gryffindor house," said Hermione. 

"And her bark is a lot worse than her bite," said Harry. "She seems really stern, but she's fair, and though she works hard to hide it, she does have a sense of humour, but it tends toward the sarcastic. She teaches Transfiguration." 

Harry took Giles up to his room while Hermione took Buffy and Dawn up to theirs. When Dawn had heard it called a dormitory she had feared the worst. She expected an institutional look with rows of beds, and was quite pleasantly surprised by the cozy circular tower room that Hermione took them into. There were four four-poster beds spaced out around it, and each bed had a desk and a wardrobe beside it. Dawn and Buffy's suitcases were sitting on top of chests of drawers at the feet of two of the beds, and Hermione's trunk was at the foot of a third. 

Dawn sat on her bed, and bounced up and down a bit. "Ooh, comfy!" The mattress was just the way she liked it, not too hard, or too soft. 

Hermione showed them the bathroom next. "You have to share it with three other girls, but there are two toilets, and two bathtubs, so it's not _too_ bad." 

"Hey, I spent half of last year living in a house with twenty girls and only _one_ bathroom," said Dawn. "You had to take a number to get your turn." She looked behind a curtain and saw a huge bathtub. "This is great!" 

They went back out into the bedroom and started to unpack their bags, hanging some of their clothes in the wardrobes, and putting others into drawers. Dawn placed her new Powerbook onto her desk and looked around. "So, is there someplace I can plug this in?" 

"Oh, I'm sorry, but there's no electricity in the castle," said Hermione. "Witches and wizards have other ways of doing most of the things that electricity does." She pointed to the candles that were providing the illumination. "They're heatless, smokeless and odorless, and they never burn down. They light up and go out automatically as required." 

"No electricity?" asked Dawn. She pulled out her iPod too. "So once the battery's dead in this, I'm tuneless?" 

"'Fraid so." said Hermione. "They probably won't work at all. Too much magical interference for Muggle electronics to work properly." 

Dawn pressed the power button on her computer. Nothing happened. She tried to turn on her iPod and got the same result. "This place just lost a whole lot of points." 

"Oh, don't worry," said Hermione. "There are lots of things to make up for the lack of computers and such." 

"Such as?" asked Dawn. 

"There's an amazing library!" said Hermione. 

"You have got to meet Willow sometime," said Buffy. 

They went back down into the common room and saw that Harry and Giles were talking with a floating semi-transparent figure that was dressed in a plumed hat and doublet with a ruffed collar. 

"Hello, Sir Nicholas!" said Hermione. 

The figure turned toward her. "Hello Miss Granger." 

"Oh, Buffy and Dawn, this is Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington," said Hermione. "He's the Gryffindor ghost." 

"Also known as Nearly Headless Nick." said Harry. 

"I _prefer_ Sir Nicholas," said the ghost. 

"Nearly headless?" asked Buffy. 

"I'm afraid I'm the victim of a botched execution," said Nick. He took hold of his left ear and pulled. His whole head flopped sideways, his neck was nearly completely severed, with just a bit of skin connecting it to the rest of his ghostly body. 

Dawn let out a bit of a squeal. 

"Eww!" said Buffy. 

Nick replaced his head and smiled, obviously pleased by the reaction he'd gotten. "So you're our new Gryffindor," he said to Dawn. "Pleased to meet you." This time he doffed his hat, leaving his head on his shoulders. 

"Um, nice to meet you too," said Dawn. She had no idea what the polite greeting for a ghost was, but this guy looked a little medieval, so she tried a curtsey. This was a mistake, because Sir Nicholas bowed in response, and his head fell off his shoulders again. 

Harry stifled a laugh. "Come on," he told Buffy and Dawn. "Time to head down for dinner." 

"I think I've lost my appetite," said Dawn softly as she followed him toward the exit. 

* * *

Professor Lupin met them just inside the door of the Great Hall, and invited Giles to join him at the head table with the other staff. Harry and Hermione showed Buffy and Dawn to the Gryffindor table. 

Dawn looked around the huge room. The hall was lit by hundreds of candles that seemed to be floating in the air above them. She could see stars and a crescent moon above them. "There's no roof!" 

"Yes there is," said Hermione, "but it's enchanted so it shows the sky overhead. Really impressive during thunderstorms." 

Dawn kept looking around the nearly empty hall. "Feels weird, just us in all this space." 

"Yeah," said Harry. "Even at Christmas there's usually a dozen students who stay over during the holiday. I've never seen it this empty. Maybe I'll talk to Dobby, arrange for us to eat in the common room." 

"Dobby?" 

"House Elf," said Harry. "They take care of all the cooking and cleaning and stuff around Hogwarts." 

"Slave labour you mean," said Hermione. 

Buffy and Dawn frowned. "What do you mean?" asked Buffy. 

"The House Elves are slaves," said Hermione. "Hogwarts exists on a base of slave labour." 

"Losing more points," said Dawn. 

"Oh!" said Hermione. "You have to join the Society for the Promotion of Elvish Welfare!" 

"SPEW?" asked Dawn. "Must've been named by someone who went to the same school of acronyms as Mom." 

"We work for the liberation of House Elves," said Hermione. 

"Main problem being, they don't _want_ to be liberated," said Harry. 

"I spent the whole summer knitting more hats!" said Hermione. 

"Hats?" asked Dawn. 

"You free a House Elf by giving it clothes, so I've been making hats for them," said Hermione. 

"Which is why nearly every House Elf in the castle runs the other way when they see Hermione coming," said Harry. "They're afraid she'll give them a hat. Dobby and Winky are the only ones who'll come into Gryffindor tower any more." 

"What?" asked Hermione. 

"Oh, didn't I tell you?" Harry grimaced. "Dobby and Winky collected all the hats you'd hidden last year—she was hiding them under loose bits of paper and such in the common room hoping that an elf would find them and get freed when it was cleaning up, even if it didn't want to be," he explained to Buffy and Dawn. "But since none of the other elves will come anywhere near Gryffindor anymore, Dobby and Winky collected them all. Last time I saw him, Dobby was wearing about a dozen." 

"So why will Dobby and Winky come into the tower, but not the rest?" asked Dawn. 

"Because they're already free elves," said Harry. "Dobby used to be bound to the Malfoy's, and they really abused him until I tricked Mr. Malfoy into giving him a sock, so now Dobby works here, for a wage. Winky used to work for the Crouch family, but she got fired a couple of years ago. Given clothes and sent away, it was really unfair too, she hadn't really done anything wrong, so Dumbledore hired her too. I haven't seen her recently, but she used to spend a lot of time drunk. She was deeply shamed by being fired." 

"I think you need to rethink your strategy, Hermione," said Dawn. "Maybe a new name too. How about the House Elf Liberation Party? HELP. Sounds much better." 

"Oh, I like that!" said Hermione. "Want to join? It only costs two Sickles. That gets you a S.P.E.W. badge…I guess it'll be a H.E.L.P. badge now, and the rest goes to finance printing our information fliers and things. Ron's the treasurer, and Harry's the secretary." 

"She drafted us," said Harry. 

"Sure I'll join!" said Dawn. "Buffy too!" 

"I guess Hermione isn't the only one who'll draft members for this outfit," said Buffy. 

Their conversation stopped because Dumbledore had entered the hall. He made his way to the center chair at the high table and had a look up and down it, as if checking that everyone was present before he spoke. "I would like to say a few words of welcome to our guests." He gestured toward the Gryffindor table "Miss Dawn Summers, and Miss Buffy Summers, and…" He gestured to where Giles was sitting with Professor Lupin. "…Mr. Rupert Giles, and the returning member of our staff, Professor Lupin: Trivet! Bodkin! Honeysuckle! Tuck in everyone!" 

Dishes full of food appeared in front of everyone. Dawn was amazed by the quantity, and variety available. Breads, and soups, and meats, and vegetables, and drinks, and salads, and desserts. She forgot all about what Nearly Headless Nick had done to her appetite. "Wow! Do you guys eat like this all the time? 'Cause, you know, lots of points!" 

Harry laughed. "No, not every night. Looks like they laid this on special for you. There are a few feasts like this. The Welcome Feast for new students, Halloween, Christmas, Easter, and the End of Term Feast. They feed us pretty good though. No one's ever complained about the lack of food, and it's always good, and if you get hungry between meals you can always nip down to the kitchens, and the House Elves will be glad to give you something. I'll show you after dinner." 

Dawn glanced toward the high table. There seemed to be a lot of empty chairs there. "So tell me who the teachers are." 

Harry looked at the high table too. "A lot of them aren't here. Of the ones that are, we have Professor Sprout at the far end. She teaches Herbology, and is the head of Hufflepuff house. Beside her is Professor Vector. She teaches Arithmancy." 

"Arithmancy?" asked Dawn. 

"Wizard maths," said Hermione. "Pretty much the same as Muggle maths. More emphasis on non-Euclidean geometry, and some other areas, but math is math whether you're a wizard or a Muggle. Wizard Arithmancians quite often publish in Muggle Mathematics journals, and vice-versa." 

"Next we have Professor Flitwick," Harry nodded toward the tiny wizard. "He teaches Charms, and is head of Ravenclaw house. You've met McGonagall and Dumbledore. That's Professor Sinistra on the other side of him. She teaches Astronomy. Again, pretty much like the Muggle version, with more emphasis on actually making your own observations, and not to be confused with astrology, which is taught in Divination. Divination is being taught by Professors Trelawney and Firenze this year. Firenze is a centaur that Dumbledore hired when Umbridge fired Professor Trelawney last year, but Dumbledore hired her back as soon as Umbridge left. The other centaurs made Firenze an outcast for working for wizards though, so Dumbledore kept him too. Most centaurs don't like us much." 

"Everything Trelawney says is nonsense," said Hermione. "I wasn't too sorry to see her removed from the staff, even if it was by Umbridge." 

"Divination is the only course Hermione ever dropped," said Harry. "And only 99.9 percent of the stuff Trelawney says is nonsense. There's that last .1 percent though. Sometimes something comes over her, and she says something completely unlike the nonsense that she usually spouts, and when it's passed she doesn't even know she's said it. _That_ stuff isn't nonsense." He gave Buffy a sheepish smile. "Which I suppose means that we should ignore it even more than we ignore the nonsense." 

"Next to Sinistra is Madam Pomfrey, She's the school nurse, and that's Madam Hooch beside her. She teaches flying, and is the Quidditch instructor and referee." 

The rest of the people at the high table were ones that Dawn had already met. Hagrid saw that she was looking his way, and gave her a little wave and a smile. She waved back nervously. "What about Hagrid?" 

"Oh, I know he looks scary," said Harry, "But he's my best friend on the staff. He's really nice. Sometimes he's too nice. He can't really see bad in any creature, no matter how deadly, he loves them all. I sometimes think he loves the deadliest ones the best." He glanced toward the high table to make sure none of the professors were paying attention to him. He lowered his voice into a whisper. "First year we were here, he tried to keep a dragon as a _pet._ Named it Norbert." 

Harry and Hermione spent the rest of the meal telling Buffy and Dawn the story of Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback…with frequent checks to make sure they were still being ignored by the teachers. They were finishing their desserts by the time they got to the part about how they'd gotten caught out of the tower at night by Filch after some friends of Ron's brother Charlie had taken Norbert away. 

People started to filter away from the high table. Dawn saw that Professor McGonagall had a bit of a whispered conversation with Dumbledore, and then she got up from the table, and came around it toward the group sitting at the Gryffindor table. 

She smiled and nodded at Dawn. "Miss Summers, we thought that perhaps you would like to spend tomorrow having Potter and Granger show you and your sister around the castle and grounds. Let you get your bearings." 

"Uh, yeah," said Dawn. "That sounds like fun." 

"Then on Monday you can start to meet with the Professors. Let them evaluate you, see what you need to learn, and you can begin to evaluate us. Then we'll make up a schedule for the next two weeks, let you get a taste of what classes at Hogwarts are like. Give you a bit of a crash course in the basics, so you won't have to go to all your classes with the first years. 

"I must warn you, we intend to work you hard, and we will try to give you what you need to take courses with students close to your own age, but even then I expect that you will have to work harder than most, just to catch up." 

McGonagall looked at Harry and Hermione. "I intend to work these two hard as well. For the next two weeks they will be your tutors. I intend for Miss Summers to excel, and I expect you two to do everything in your power to help her do so. You have both demonstrated that you are capable of doing great things—though Potter's talents seem to lie outside the area of academics—I expect no less this time." 

She looked back at Dawn. "So, have fun tomorrow. After that you will have little opportunity for fun for some time." 

Dawn gulped. "Yes, ma'am." 

"Very well," said McGonagall. "Any questions?" 

"Uh, no ma'am." said Dawn. 

"All right," said McGonagall. "See you on Monday." She turned and started to walk away. 

"Oh, Professor?" asked Harry. 

She turned back. "Yes, Potter?" 

"Uh, we were wondering… It's a little weird, eating here with just a few of us in the Hall. Could we take our meals in the common room, until the start of term?" 

McGonagall nodded. "Certainly, Potter, but I might miss your stories. Hagrid had a Norwegian Ridgeback! I always thought that there had to be a story behind what you lot were doing sneaking around the castle at one in the morning! Good night!" She turned and swept away. Dawn heard her snort. "Norbert!" 

Harry took Dawn and Buffy down to see the kitchens before they went back to their rooms. Since they didn't want to scare off the House Elves, Hermione continued on her own up to the common room. They went down a narrow stairway into a corridor lined with pictures of food. Harry pointed out the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room as they passed it, and then stopped in front of a large painting of a bowl of fruit. He reached out and tickled the pear. It giggled and became a doorknob. Harry pulled the door open and took Buffy and Dawn into the kitchens. 

The Hogwarts kitchens were a huge room, equal in size to the great hall, which Buffy figured had to be directly above them. She could see that there were five large tables, laid out exactly like the tables in the hall, on which food could be prepared, and she could see the leftovers and dirty dishes from their meal were now on two of them. 

There were about a dozen small creatures, about waist high, with large eyes, and bat like ears bustling around, cleaning dishes and things. They all seemed to be wearing tea towels with the Hogwarts crest on them, wrapped around themselves like togas. 

"House Elves?" asked Buffy quietly. 

"House Elves." said Harry. "When school's in session, there'll be about a hundred of them in here." 

One of the elves noticed that they were there, and instantly appeared in front of them. "Good evening, sir, and misses! Is there anything we can get for you? A snack perhaps?" 

"Oh, no, thank you!" said Harry quickly. "We have just had a most excellent meal that you prepared for us. I was just showing our guests around, and wondering if Dobby was here." 

"Dobby is not here sir." said the elf. "Dobby is on _holiday_ sir." The elf spit the word out like it was swearing. 

"Oh!" said Harry. "Um, how about Winky then?" 

"Oh, yes sir!" said the elf. "Winky is here sir! I will go get her for you!" The elf vanished with a sudden crack. 

"Wow!" said Harry to Buffy and Dawn. "Dobby actually took a holiday! When he first started here, he refused Dumbledore's offer to have weekends off." 

Buffy and Dawn wandered around the kitchen, looking around and fending off House Elves who kept popping up and offering them things to eat. 

The first elf they'd seen popped back in, accompanied by a second, rather sad looking elf dressed in a skirt, with a matching blue blouse and hat. The other elves looked away from her, like there was something indecent about the way she was dressed. 

"Winky!" said Harry. "Good to see you again!" 

"And you, Mr. Potter sir," said Winky. "Is there something Winky can be doing for sir? Winky likes to work! Winky is not taking _holidays_ sir!" 

"Work seems to agree with you Winky," said Harry. "You're looking better. I'm glad to see it." 

"Thank you sir," said Winky. "Winky likes to work. How may I serve you sir?" 

"I just came down to tell you that we're going to be having our meals in the common room, from now until the start of term, so if you could be so kind as to have them delivered there, we would be very grateful." 

"Very good sir," said Winky. "Um, is _she_ here too sir?" 

"Yes Winky, I'm afraid she is," said Harry, "but I'll try to keep her under control." 

"Oh, thank you sir!" said Winky. 

"You are most welcome Winky," said Harry. He took Buffy and Dawn back out of the kitchen, into the hall. 

"'She'?" asked Dawn. 

Harry closed the door before he answered. "Hermione. I'm afraid that the House Elves are getting almost as afraid of saying her name as the witches and wizards are of saying 'Voldemort.'" 

"I hadn't noticed anyone having any trouble with his name," said Buffy. 

"I was raised Muggle, so I don't have any problem, and Hermione, who was also raised Muggle has managed to get over the aversion, since she wasn't taught her whole life not to say it, but most witches and wizards call him 'You Know Who,' or 'He Who Must Not Be Named.' They have real problems saying his name, and cringe whenever they hear it. It's nonsense really. Dumbledore says that being afraid to say his name just gives him more power." Harry grinned. "Maybe we should start pushing that 'Moldywart' thing. Mocking should lower the fear level even more." 

They made there way back up from the kitchen level to the seventh floor entrance to the Gryffindor tower. "Whew!" said Dawn. "Haven't you people heard of elevators?" 

"At least I know you'll bet getting lots of exercise," said Buffy. 

"Yeah, but what about Giles?" asked Dawn as they entered the common room. 

"What about me?" Giles looked up from the book he was reading by the fire. 

"All the stairs in this place!" said Dawn. "You're liable to have a heart attack! Maybe we should get you a room on one of the lower floors." 

Giles gave Dawn a look. Her face was flushed, and she was taking deep breaths. "I seem to be able to handle it just as well as you…if not better." 

"Don't believe him," said Hermione. "He was looking pretty knackered when he came in here ten minutes ago. So how was Dobby?" 

"You will be pleased to hear that Dobby is on _holiday!_" said Harry. "The other House Elves are all quite scandalized by his behaviour. I didn't ask if it was paid. I don't know if he's fallen so far as to actually take a paid holiday. We talked to Winky, and she's looking better. Didn't cry once, and her clothes were all cleaned up. I arranged to have our meals delivered up here." 

"Maybe we should rethink that," said Dawn. "I don't like the idea of making those little elves carry all that stuff all the way up here." 

"Oh, don't worry about that," said Harry. "They won't _carry_ it up. They'll use magic. House Elves are really very powerful in some ways. In an actual contest of magic between an elf and a wizard, bet on the elf." 


	11. Castle Tour

Dawn was awakened the next morning by sunlight shining through the window into the tower room she was sharing with Buffy and Hermione. She rolled over and snuggled herself back down into her blankets, hoping for a few more minutes of sleep before she really awoke. That plan was foiled by her sister. 

"Rise and shine Dawnie!" said Buffy. "It's time to get up." 

Dawn burrowed deeper into her blankets. "Just give me ten more minutes." 

"Nope." The blankets were pulled off Dawn's bed. "Time to get up." 

"Oh, I don't wanna!" 

"Don't make me resort to harsh measures," said Buffy. "There's ice water available if I need it." 

"Whaa!" Dawn sat up in her bed, and saw Buffy and Hermione smiling at her. 

"Hurry up," said Buffy. "Breakfast is waiting." 

Dawn felt a slight rumbling in her stomach, which kinda surprised her after all she'd had to eat the night before, and she caught a tantalising whiff. A melange of different aromas that made it difficult to pick out any one, but the combination smelled wonderful. "Okay, I'll be down in a few minutes." She crawled out of her bed and went into the bathroom. 

Dawn was feeling much more awake after her shower. She went down the stairway into the common room and found that everyone was already there, sitting around a table eating their breakfasts. There was a plate covered by a lid waiting for her beside Harry's seat at the table. 

"I told Winky to just let it get cold, to teach you a lesson, but she insisted on keeping it warm for you," said Buffy as Dawn sat down. Dawn uncovered the plate and was hit by the aroma of freshly cooked sausages, and eggs and toast with fruit jam. She started to eat with gusto. 

"Once we're finished eating, I thought that we'd give you a quick tour of the castle," said Harry. "Show you around the inside this morning, and the grounds this afternoon. Then maybe give you a flying lesson." 

"Flying?" asked Dawn. "Like on a broom?" 

"Yeah," said Harry. "You'll love it!" 

"Uh, I'm not so sure about that," said Dawn. "I've had this whole thing about heights, ever since a bunch of demons that looked like hobbits with leprosy working for this bitch of a hellgod tied me to the top of this tower, and an old guy who looked like Joel Grey cut me with a knife, and Buffy died and everything. Since then I've tried to keep my feet on solid ground." 

Harry and Hermione exchanged a look. "And you thought _we_ had exciting lives," she said. 

"Makes our problems with old Moldywart seem pretty tame, doesn't it?" Harry turned back to Dawn. "It's fine if you don't want to. I just thought it would be fun. I love flying." 

"No!" said Dawn quickly. "I'm sure it will be. Never mind my little outbursts. Sometimes my mouth just kinda runs off on its own. I'd love to give it a try." 

Winky came back with a pot of tea, and a carafe of coffee for Buffy, and whisked away the breakfast dishes. They sat around the table letting their meal settle while they discussed their itinerary for the day. Harry invited Giles to come along with them, but he begged off. Professor Lupin had already offered to give Giles his own tour. 

An owl arrived and dropped a rolled up newspaper in front of Hermione. She had clearly been expecting it, since she'd saved some bits of sausage from her breakfast which she fed to the owl. She also placed a Knut into the leather bag attached to its leg, before it flew off again. She unrolled the paper and laid it out on the table. "So let's see what's happening elsewhere in the world." 

Dawn read the main headline in the upside down paper: "NO REPORTS OF YOU KNOW WHO FOR FOURTH STRAIGHT WEEK!" over a picture of a group of witches and wizards all smiling and nodding and looking confident. She was getting to the point where seeing that they were all actually moving in the picture didn't surprise her in the least. "So, no news is big news?" she asked. 

"When dealing with Voldemort, yeah it is," said Hermione. "Everyone is so afraid of him that the Ministry spends a lot of time trying to reassure the public that he isn't doing anything, and that they're on top of the situation. Of course they aren't on top of it at all, and everyone with a brain knows it." She finished scanning the front page to see if there was anything actually of interest there, and opened the paper. Hey eyes did a quick scan of the headlines, and stopped at a small item near the bottom of page three. "Oh, Harry! Look at this!" 

She turned the paper around, and shoved it over in front of Harry. She pointed to the small article, barely noticeable in the bottom corner. Dawn read it along with Harry. 
    
    
    Sirius Black Exonerated
    The _Daily Prophet_ has obtained an advance copy of
    a report to be released Monday by the Special
    Committee of the Wizengamot which was formed to
    reexamine the Black case. The committee examined
    all the evidence from the Black trial, along with
    new evidence, including several eye-witness
    reports that positively identified Peter Pettigrew
    as still being alive and in league with He Who
    Must Not Be Named. Mr. Pettigrew is the wizard
    that Sirius Black was accused of murdering, along
    with twelve Muggle bystanders, fifteen years ago.
    The committee's findings state that it was
    in fact Mr. Pettigrew who killed the twelve
    Muggles and faked his own death, framing Mr. Black
    in the process.
    The committee also found that it was Mr. Pettigrew
    who betrayed James and Lily Potter to You Know
    Who, leading to their deaths at his hands.
    Sirius Black had been the subject of one of the
    largest wizardhunts in recent times following his
    escape from Azkaban Prison three years ago. He had
    evaded all attempts to recapture him. His
    whereabouts were a complete mystery until two
    months ago, when he reappeared to join in the
    defense of the Ministry of Magic against an
    assault by You Know Who and several of his Death
    Eaters. Mr. Black gave his life in that defense.
    In addition to clearing Mr. Black of all charges,
    the Wizengamot Committee has recommended that he
    be awarded the Order of Merlin (Posthumous).
    

"Little late," grumbled Harry. 

Dawn looked at him. "This Sirius Black, he was your godfather?" 

"Yeah, pretty much the only real family I had," said Harry, "and he spent all the time I knew him as a hunted fugitive." 

"Still, it's good that his name has been cleared," said Hermione. 

"I'd rather have him back." 

Dawn placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I know you do, but it's good that people are learning the truth about him too." 

Harry shrugged under her hand. "I guess so, but I wish…I wish he could have been here to see it." 

"I miss him too," said Hermione. 

"Will the hurting ever go away?" asked Harry. 

"Not entirely," said Buffy. "But it gets better with time. You'll always miss him, but you'll spend more time remembering the good times you had with him, instead of just thinking about how much you miss him." 

"Come on," said Dawn. "We have to do something to get your mind off moping. You have a castle to give us a tour of!" 

Harry let himself be chivied out of his bad mood, and they set out for the tour. They started at the top, showing Buffy and Dawn the entrances to the various towers. The North Tower where Trelawney held her divination classes, the Astronomy Tower, and the West Towers with the Owlery, and the Ravenclaw dorms. They made there way slowly down through the castle. 

They encountered Giles and Professor Lupin when Harry and Hermione showed them into the library, with its rows and rows of shelves, and tens of thousands of books. "Wow!" said Buffy, giving Giles a smile. "Bet you feel like you're in heaven." 

"Well, yes, it is a most impressive collection," said Giles. 

"And here I thought yours was the only library with a cage." Buffy pointed to a large iron gate. "What's in there?" 

"Restricted section," said Hermione. "Students are only allowed books from in there if they have a note from a professor." 

"Or if they sneak in after hours with an invisibility cloak," said Professor Lupin. 

"You did that sort of thing a lot when you were a student here?" asked Giles. 

Lupin smiled toward Harry. "I'm afraid that James and Sirius dragged me along on some of their late night excursions. I understand that Harry and Hermione have also made use of that cloak on several occasions." 

"You have an invisibility cloak?" asked Dawn. 

"Yeah," said Harry. "It was my dad's." 

"Way cool! Can I see it?" 

"No," said Harry with a straight face. "It's invisible." 

"Harry!" Dawn gave him a light wack on his arm. "You know what I meant." 

"Yeah, and yeah, I'll show it to you some time. I was just kidding about that invisibility thing. It only vanishes once you put it on. I guess otherwise you'd never be able to find the thing." 

They continued working their way down through the castle, until at last they found themselves down in the dark, cool dungeons. "There's the entrance to the Potions dungeon," said Harry. "And Professor Snape's office is right next door to it." He pointed off down the hall. "The Slytherin common room entrance is over there." 

Dawn could tell that Harry didn't like being down here much, and she was getting a seriously weird vibe off the place herself, so she was glad when he didn't actually lead them any farther down the dark hallway. They turned back toward the stairway that would take them back up to the entry hall instead, but found their way blocked by a man wearing a black cloak. 

"Potter." The man sounded as if he smelled something bad. "What are you doing down here? I was hoping to never see you down here again." 

"Oh, Professor Snape!" said Harry. "We're um…This is Dawn Summers, an American exchange student who's going to be coming here this term, and her sister Buffy. Um…Hermione and I got stuck with giving them a tour by Professor McGonagall. We were just showing them where the Potions dungeon, and your office were." 

"Oh yes, I was told about you." Snape looked down his aquiline nose at Dawn. "I expect you'll need a lot of remedial work." 

Dawn could tell that Professor Snape was trying to be intimidating, and stifled the urge to laugh at him. After facing vampires, demons, hellgods and the First Evil, a Potions Professor didn't scare her much. "Oh, I don't know," she said out loud. "I might surprise you." She was more worried by the cold feeling she was getting from Harry all of a sudden. She wondered what happened. 

"Yes, well, we'll see about that." said Snape. He continued down the hall, and disappeared into his office. 

Harry started to hurry off in the other direction. Dawn and the others had to run to catch up with him. "What was that about?" asked Dawn. "If you don't want to be showing us around, just say so." 

Harry smiled at her, and the chill she had felt vanished. "Oh, I just said that for Snape's benefit, and yours." 

"What do you mean?" asked Dawn. 

"Snape hates me," said Harry. "Has from my first day here. Goes back to when he was a student with my dad. He hated my dad too. So now he thinks I don't like you, so he'll give you a fairer shake." 

Dawn smiled at him. "Oh, you were being _devious_." 

"I try," said Harry. "Come on, let's go get lunch!" 

* * *

Harry and Hermione showed them around the outside grounds after lunch. They started with Hagrid's hut, at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Harry went up and knocked on the enormous door. "Hello? Hagrid? You home?" 

There wasn't any answer. "Maybe he's off in the forest." Hermione pointed to an empty spot beside the door. "His crossbow's gone." 

Buffy perked up a bit at that. "Crossbow?" 

"Yeah, Hagrid has a great big crossbow he carries with him when he goes into the forest," said Harry. "Lots of nasty creatures live in it. It's off limits to students without an escort." 

"And I'm guessing that you've been in it few times unescorted," said Buffy. 

Harry grinned. "Once or twice." 

Buffy heard a large dog barking, and turned toward the sound. She saw a huge hound come bounding around the hut toward them, and dropped into a defensive stance. She relaxed again almost immediately when she heard Hermione happily call "Hi Fang!" 

The dog ran right up to Hermione, and nearly knocked her off her feet as it licked her face with its big slobbery tongue. Once it had her thoroughly soaked it went and gave Harry the same treatment. It then turned toward Buffy. 

"Oh no! You're not licking me!" 

"Sit Fang!" said Harry. He gave the dog a pat on its hips to encourage it to settle down. "Good boy! Buffy, Dawn, this is Fang…pretty much the closest thing to 'normal' as any animal Hagrid associates with." 

Dawn stepped forward carefully and held out her hand to the huge dog. "Hello Fang." Fang sniffed at her hand for a moment before giving it a big sloppy lick. 

Buffy was getting properly introduced to Fang when Hagrid came lumbering around the corner of the hut. "Fang! Why'd you run off— Oh, we have visitors! 'Allo Harry, Hermione, Misses Summers." 

"Hi Hagrid!" said Harry. "We were just showing Buffy and Dawn around the grounds." He looked at the crossbow Hagrid had slung over his shoulder. "Is there some problem in the forest?" 

"No, no," said Hagrid. "I was just in taking care of somethin'. It's a special treat for your first class." 

"Oh?" asked Harry, "Something that will eat Malfoy?" 

Hagrid laughed. "Not _that_ special. No this is somethin' Professor Dumbledore recommended that I show you." 

"What is it?" asked Harry. 

"If I tol' you that, it wouldn't be a surprise, now would it?" Hagrid noticed where Buffy's attention was. "Somethin' about my crossbow bother you Miss Summers?" he asked. 

"Oh, call me Buffy, and no. I'm just interested in weapons like that. Can I try it?" 

"Really?" Hagrid swung the crossbow down off his shoulder. "Not many Hogwarts students express much interest in such things. Too busy waving their wands around." He held the bow out to her. "Course a bow like this is a touch big for a little slip of a girl like you." 

Buffy just smiled, drew the string back, and cocked the bow. She held out her hand. "Arrow?" 

Hagrid was too surprised to say anything. He just handed her one of his arrows. Buffy placed it into the bow, and looked around for a suitable target. "What can I shoot?" 

"Er…well…" Hagrid pointed to a fence post about fifty yards away. "I use that when I feel I need a little practice." 

"Perfect." Buffy swung the bow around, at no time letting it point at anyone or at Fang, brought it up in a smooth motion and squeezed the release lever. The arrow embedded itself in the fence post with a solid _thwack!_" 

"Good one!" Buffy smiled and handed the bow back to Hagrid. She trotted over to the fence post to retrieve the arrow. She handed it to a still speechless Hagrid when she came back. "Good bow! If I could get them to stand in a nice neat line, I could probably take out half a dozen vamps in one shot with that." 

"Vamps?" asked Hagrid. 

"Vampires." Buffy looked at Hagrid's rather dazed expression. "The undead? They who walk by night, and have a very limited diet?" 

"You kill vampires?" 

"Only when they annoy me…which being vampires, pretty much means whenever I see one." 

"Yer see a lot of vampires then do you?" asked Hagrid. 

"Not since we left Sunnydale," said Buffy. "There are hardly any in England right now. I haven't had a chance to check out around here yet." 

"T'ain't any vampires within a hundred miles o' Hogwarts!" said Hagrid. "Dumbledore don't allow it!" 

"Oh, good," Buffy looked at Dawn. "Be sure to give points for that." 

"No vampires." Dawn smiled. "Check!" 

Harry looked at Hagrid's face. He hadn't noticed it last night, but now that he could see him in the full daylight he could see that Hagrid had a fading bruise on his left cheek. "So, Hagrid," he asked carefully, "How's Grawp?" 

"Oh, he's doin' much better!" said Hagrid. "He twarn't happy here in the Forest, an' he and the centaurs weren't gettin' on at all, so I moved him up to the cave I stayed in in the mountains las' spring. 'E's much happier there. Mountains is the proper place for a giant. I go up an visit him nearly every weekend." 

"Giant?" asked Dawn. 

"Hagrid's 'little' brother," said Hermione. "Half brother really. He's a sixteen foot tall giant." 

"Sixteen feet?" 

"Yeah, I brought 'im 'ere ter live with me las' year, cause the other giants were pickin' on 'im so bad, 'im bein' such a runt an all," said Hagrid. "So, why don' we all go inside fer some tea, and biscuits? I made a fresh batch this mornin'!" 

Harry and Hermione begged off, telling Hagrid that they had just finished lunch, and they still had a lot to show Buffy and Dawn. They waved goodbye as they headed back toward the castle. Harry waited until they were well out of earshot before he leaned close to Dawn and whispered. "Actually it's because Hagrid is the world's worst cook. You could break a tooth on his biscuits." 

The tour took them to the greenhouses next. Professor Sprout was there, watering some plants that seemed to keep trying to snatch her watering can away with long tendrils, and Hermione introduced her to Buffy and Dawn. 

"Why are you raising Devil's Snare?" asked Harry. 

"Well, after that unfortunate incident at St. Mungo's last Christmas, I decided that all students need to have a refresher on how to recognise the plant, and properly defend themselves from it," said Professor Sprout. 

"What happened?" asked Dawn. 

"A man in the hospital was murdered with a Devil's Snare plant," said Hermione. "It was sent as an anonymous present, and none of the staff recognised it for what it was." She looked deeply chagrined. "We were there, Harry, and Ron and I, visiting someone else, and we saw it delivered, but we didn't recognise it either at the time, even though we'd seen it before." 

"Yes, well, your encounter was with a fully mature plant," said Professor Sprout. "Quite different from a sapling. Easy to not recognise it, which is why every class will be getting introduced to the immature plants this term." While she was distracted one of the plants managed to get hold of her watering can. Madam Sprout had her wand in her hand a moment later and produced a jet of blue flame from the tip of it. The plant instantly released the can and its tendrils all curled in close to its core. "There, see? A little flame and the plant instantly goes into its defensive posture, releasing whatever it has hold of." 

"Well, we'll leave you to it, Professor," said Harry. "We've still got lots to show Dawn and Buffy." 

"Yes, well nice to meet you," said Professor Sprout. She went back to watering her plants. 


	12. Flying Lessons

The tour of the grounds ended with the stadium Dawn had noticed when they first arrived. Harry led them into the field, nearly twice the size of a football field, and pointed around it. "This is the Quidditch Pitch!" He pointed out the three hoops on fifty foot poles at either end of the field. "You score by putting the Quaffle through one of those hoops." 

Harry launched into a detailed description of the game and its rules until Hermione interrupted him. She could see that Buffy's and Dawn's eyes were starting to glaze over. It reminded her of the way Ron often looked in History of Magic classes. "Um, Harry, I think maybe you have to actually _see_ Quidditch being played to really appreciate it." 

"Yeah, I guess you're right," said Harry. "So, you ready for your flying lesson?" 

"I guess," said Dawn. "What do we do?" 

"First we have to get you some brooms." Harry started toward the shed near the pitch where the school brooms were kept. "Follow me." 

Harry opened the shed and pulled out three brooms. He moved off onto a clear bit of lawn, layed down the brooms, and turned toward the castle. He pulled out his wand and pointed it back toward the castle. "_Accio Firebolt!_" 

"What was that for?" asked Dawn. 

"He's showing off, and getting his own broom," said Hermione. 

Buffy glanced at the three brooms already on the ground. "Uh, you expect me to try this too?" 

Harry looked around at her. "Sure, why not? Slayers are magical people aren't they. This should work for you." 

"Sure Buffy, you've helped Willow out with lots of spells," said Dawn. "Even done a couple yourself." 

"Flying on a broom doesn't really take magic anyway," said Hermione. "The magic is already built into the brooms. And if you can't do it, the worst that can happen is your broom just lays there on the ground." 

Harry was looking back toward the castle. Dawn followed his gaze, and saw a small dot in the sky, rapidly growing as it raced toward them. It grew until she saw that it was a flying broom. It dove down toward Harry and came to a stop beside him. 

Harry grabbed his broom, and put it down on the ground parallel to the three brooms already lying there. It made the other brooms look pretty shabby. The handle gleamed, and the twigs that made up its tail were all perfectly aligned. "Nice broom," said Dawn. 

"The Firebolt," said Harry. "Finest broom money can buy. It was a Christmas present…" He paused for a moment. "Sirius gave it to me." 

"So he wouldn't want it making you sad," said Buffy. "So come on, how do you do this flying thing?" 

"Okay." Harry visibly forced himself to smile. "Step up on the left side of your broom, hold out your right hand, and say 'Up!'" Harry had done so himself as he spoke, and his broom leapt up into his hand. Buffy, Dawn and Hermione all did the same, and Hermione's broom leapt into her hand too. Buffy's and Dawn's just kind of twitched on the ground. 

"Not working," said Buffy. 

"It takes a bit of practice," said Harry. "You have to get the inflection just right. Try again. It took Hermione half a dozen tries to get it right. Nearly the only bit of magic I haven't seen her get perfect the first time." 

Buffy and Dawn stood beside their brooms saying "Up," and "Up!" and "_UP!_" and "up." Dawn's was the first to react. It jumped up toward her hand so suddenly that she missed catching it, and it fell back to the ground. A couple of attempts later Buffy's broom leapt up and she caught it. Dawn's followed right behind it. 

Harry had them put the brooms back down on the ground, and try again until they both had their brooms reliably leaping into their hands on command. Then he showed them how to sit on the broom, and how to hold it. 

"I want you to kick off from the ground," said Harry. "Rise up a few feet in the air, and hover. Just hold your broom steady for a few seconds, and then lean forward a bit to come back down. Hermione, show them how it's done." 

"Okay." Hermione pushed off from the ground and rose up into the air on her broom. She hovered in place in front of them for a moment before sinking back to the ground. 

"Now you try it," said Harry. 

Dawn and Buffy both pushed off, and rose up into the air. They didn't do it anywhere nearly as smoothly as Hermione had, but they both managed to come to a hover, Dawn about five feet up and Buffy—who had pushed off much harder—about ten feet in the air. 

"This is so cool!" said Dawn, who had a bit of a clockwise spin to her hover. She pushed forward a bit, and slowly sank back to the ground, with Buffy behind her. 

Harry had them repeat the hovering exercise several times until they both had good control over their height, and could hold themselves steady. Dawn still had a tendency to spin, but Harry figured it was her broom, so he swapped it for another. Many of the school brooms were badly in need of a tuneup. Sure enough the spin went away with the new broom. 

They went on to lessons in how to make their brooms go forward, and more importantly, stop; followed by turning and controlling their altitude. Soon they were doing laps around the Quidditch pitch, followed by Buffy and Dawn flying a figure eight pattern around Harry and Hermione while they hovered stationary. 

"This is a blast!" said Dawn as she circled around Harry. 

"You up for a little follow the leader?" he asked. 

"Sure!" said Dawn. 

"Okay, follow me!" Harry took off toward the castle with Dawn and Buffy right behind him, and Hermione bringing up the rear. He was careful not to go too fast—his Firebolt could outstrip the old school brooms with ease—but he went fast enough that they had to work to keep up with him. He circled around the castle, and then rose up and wove between the towers. 

Harry kept going up until they were about a thousand feet above the ground—pretty much the limit for the brooms the others were riding. He pulled himself into a hover. Dawn pulled up right beside him. "So how's that thing with heights you were talking about?" he asked. 

"I seem to have gotten over it!" Dawn looked around. She could see everything for miles around. The castle almost directly under them, the lake and the forest. To the south of the lake, just beyond the railway tracks she could see a collection of buildings. They were the only sign of human habitation visible, other than the castle itself. She wasn't feeling confident enough to let go of the broom with a hand at this height, so she spun around and pointed with the handle. "What's that over there?" 

"Hogsmeade," said Harry. "It's the only entirely wizarding village in Britain. Normally students are only allowed to visit it a couple of weekends a term, but since the term hasn't started yet…" He turned to Hermione, who was slowly circling around them with Buffy. "Want to show them around Hogsmeade?" 

"I'm not sure we're if supposed to leave the school grounds," said Hermione. 

"Term hasn't started yet, so those rules don't apply, and no one has told us we _aren't_ supposed to leave the grounds." Harry pointed the nose of his broom down toward the lake. "Let's go!" He dove toward the water. 

Dawn and Buffy dove after him. "Harry!" called Hermione, and she reached into her pocket for her wand as she dove after them all, just in case. 

Hermione needn't have bothered. Harry was still keeping himself well within what he knew the school brooms were capable of doing. Dawn was still shrieking as she dropped toward the water, and her knuckles were white, she was holding on to her broom handle so tightly. 

Harry started to pull out of his dive a hundred feet above the lake. He slowly brought himself to level flight again barely above the water. He glanced back and saw that Dawn was just a little way behind him, and about ten feet higher, her long hair streaming in the wind, and a look of total exhilaration on her face. He thought she looked beautiful, even prettier than Cho. 

"Harry! Look out!" cried Dawn. 

"Huh?" Harry glanced ahead and saw that the shoreline was rapidly coming toward him. He pulled up sharply on his broom, but his toes still clipped the upper branches of a tree. He leveled out again at a higher altitude, and slowed down a bit. Dawn flew up beside him. "Thanks!" 

"You should pay more attention to where you're going!" 

Buffy and Hermione caught up with them on the outskirts of Hogsmeade. They had both opted for a more sedate dive than the one Harry and Dawn had taken toward the lake. They flew down the main street with Harry and Hermione pointing out the various shops and other points of interest. 

"All this flying is making me thirsty!" said Harry when they reached _The Three Broomsticks_. "Come on." He landed lightly in front of the inn. Dawn, Buffy and Hermione followed him. 

There was a rack near the front door of the inn with a sign reading 'Please leave your brooms here' beside it. Harry hesitated for a moment before leaving his Firebolt there, but he figured that between the registration number permanently engraved on the handle, and the anti-theft alarm spell on it, it should be safe enough, so he added his broom to the rack with the others. 

There weren't many tables occupied in the common room of the inn. A few people called out greetings to Harry when they recognised him. Harry smiled and nodded and said "Hi" back as they made their way to a table, but the smile faded as soon as he turned away. "I don't remember ever seeing a third of those people before," he whispered to Dawn, "but they all act like they're my best friends." 

"The price of fame, Harry," said Hermione. 

"I don't _want_ to be famous!" 

"I know," said Hermione, "but there are benefits." She saw Madam Rosmerta coming toward them, and ignoring a few other patrons trying to get her attention to order refills of their drinks. "Such as prompt service." 

"Hello Harry!" said Madam Rosmerta. "What can I get for you and your friends?" 

Harry, Dawn and Hermione all ordered butterbeers. "Can I get a beer-beer?" asked Buffy. 

Madam Rosmerta looked at Buffy for a moment, and evidently decided she was old enough. "Certainly dear. What would you like? We have a wide selection." 

"Oh, whichever you think is good," said Buffy. "I'm trying to widen my horizons. Surprise me." 

Rosmerta smiled. "Very well." She left their table and soon came back with three tankards of butterbeer, and another full of a dark brown…almost black liquid with a thick white head on top. "Here you go." she placed the tankard in front of Buffy. "It's our own brew. I dare say you won't have had it before." 

Buffy took a sip from the tankard. The taste and texture reminded her a bit of Guinness. "Very good!" she told Rosmerta. 

"That will be two Sickles each for the butterbeers, and seven for the beer-beer," said Rosmerta. 

Everyone started to reach for their pockets. "I've got it," said Buffy. She pulled a Galleon out of her pocket and placed it on the table. "I'm still figuring this wizard money out, that should cover it, right?" 

"Oh, yes!" said Rosmerta. She took the Galleon and gave Buffy sixteen Sickles in change. She bustled off to take care of her other customers. 

Everyone took a deep drink from their beverages. "So how's our point score coming?" Harry asked Dawn. 

"The flying…_lots_ of points!" said Dawn. "That was a blast! Um, I think I'm going to take off a couple of points for the murderous plants in the greenhouse, but Professor Sprout seems nice, so that balances out. The castle is really cool, but it loses points for things like missing stairs, no electricity, and the slave labour. The food is really good though, so on balance I think it's in the black. 

"Of the other teachers I've met…Professor Snape lost points for trying to frighten me, but Hagrid gained them back by being so nice, when he's someone who really _could_ frighten me if he tried." 

"Snape didn't scare you?" asked Harry. "Half the school is terrified of him." 

"Hey, I've been frightened by _experts!_" said Dawn. "Has Snape actually killed any students?" 

"Not that we know of," said Hermione, "but he's been pretty high up on our suspect list a couple of times." 

"Lots of student deaths are there?" asked Buffy. 

"No," said Harry. "No one has actually died in the school since we started. Hermione and some others were petrified by a Basilisk once, but no one died. Cedric was killed by Voldemort, but that didn't happen _at_ the school." 

"So, death rate _way_ lower than Sunnydale High," said Dawn. "More points." 

"Dawn, every other school on the planet has a lower death rate than Sunnydale High," said Buffy. 

"And knowing that, you still made me go there." 

"You could have gone to Miss Porter's School for Girls." 

"A _girls'_ school? I'd rather risk death." 

"Hogwarts is generally considered the safest place in Britain," said Hermione. "Except for…" She looked at Harry. 

"What?" asked Dawn. 

"Well, Voldemort's got it in for me, so I'm not really the safest person to hang around with," said Harry. "That's what happened to Cedric. He got in the way of one of Voldemort's attempts to kill me." 

"Hey, I grew up in the same house as the Slayer," said Dawn. "I've lost count of the times I've nearly been killed because I got stuck with Buffy as a sister." 

"Most of those times were because you didn't do as you were told," said Buffy. 

"Not my fault you keep trying to send me away whenever it looks like things might get interesting." 

Dawn saw a couple of people she recognised come into the inn. "There's Professor McGonagall, and um, Flitwit?" 

Hermione looked around "Flitwick. He teaches Charms. Really smart, and really nice too." 

"They certainly make an odd looking couple," said Buffy, looking at the tiny Charms professor beside the imposing height of Professor McGonagall. The tip of his pointed hat was at about her waist level. 

"You know, I've seen them come in here together a few times," said Hermione. "You don't suppose that there's something going on between them do you?" 

Harry sputtered in his butterbeer. The noise drew McGonagall's attention. She came across the inn toward them. Flitwick followed, having to take two steps to every one of hers to keep up. "Potter, I thought I recognised your broom outside." She smiled at Dawn. "So what do you think of our little community here?" 

"It's very nice," said Dawn. "I think I'd enjoy coming here for school." 

"Have you met Professor Flitwick yet?" 

"Not yet." Dawn held out her hand to the tiny professor. "How do you do?" 

"I do quite well," said Professor Flitwick. He surprised Dawn by actually taking her hand and giving it a kiss. "A pleasure to meet you Miss Summers." 

McGonagall and Flitwick left to get themselves a table on the far side of the inn's common room. Dawn wondered whose privacy they were doing it to protect. Maybe it was just a desire not to associate with the students any more than they had to. 

Buffy watched McGonagall and Flitwick sit down at a small table, and Rosmerta brought them their drinks without even taking an order. "Do you suppose there _is_ something going on between them?" she asked. 

"Uh-uh! No way!" said Harry. 

"They look awfully friendly," said Dawn. 

"Yes, they're friendly!" said Harry. "They're very good friends, but I'm sure that's _all_ it is! I mean, look at the size difference!" 

"I don't know," said Buffy. "Might be interesting with someone that small…and the beard would certainly tickle." Harry and Hermione were turning beat red. "What do you think Dawnie? Do they make a cute couple or what?" 

"They make a very cute couple," said Dawn. 

"Stop it!" said Hermione. "They're _teachers!_ Just the thought of it…" She shuddered. 

"You're the one who brought it up first," said Buffy. 

"And I'm very sorry I did!" said Hermione. 

Harry drained his butterbeer. "I think it's time for us to be heading back to the school, anyway." 

"Good idea!" Hermione raised her glass and gulped down the last of her drink too. 

Buffy and Dawn stopped speculating about the teacher's love lives, but they took their time finishing their drinks before they got up from the table. They all waved goodbye to the professors as they went outside. 

They pulled their brooms out of their racks. Dawn got ready to launch herself into the air. "You want to race?" she asked Harry. She saw he looked a little uncertain. "What's the problem? Afraid I'll beat you?" 

"It's not that," said Harry. He made up his mind. "Here Hermione, you can take my broom, and I'll take yours." He traded brooms with her. 

"Huh?" asked Dawn. 

"My broom, against yours would be kinda like…" Harry racked his brain, trying to come up with a comparison. Luckily, Dudley had become car mad over the last year, so he found he had a comparison ready at hand. "…a Porsche against a Yugo." He got on the broom. "This way I won't have an unfair advantage. First one to the broom shed wins. You ready?" Dawn nodded. "Okay, three, two, one, go!" Harry still let Dawn kick off first and watched for a second to make sure she was flying smoothly before he took off after her. 

Buffy and Hermione were left standing in front of _The Three Broomsticks_. "Is Harry's broom really that much faster?" asked Buffy. 

"It is." Hermione watched as Harry and Dawn disappeared around the corner at the end of the street. "I'm not much of a flier, but if I took off now, I could probably still beat them back to the broom shed on it. Harry could have been there and back by now. He's the best in the school, and this really is the world's fastest broom." 

Buffy and Hermione got on their brooms, and kicked off together. Hermione darted ahead, and then pulled to a complete stop when she tried to slow down to let Buffy catch up. "I've never ridden it before either," she said when she pulled even with Buffy again, this time managing to control her speed a little better. "It's a lot more responsive than the brooms I'm used to." They continued to fly sedately toward the school. 

Harry caught up with Dawn as they crossed the railroad tracks. He started to pull ahead as they went out over the lake. Dawn leaned down a little closer to her broom, cutting the wind resistance, and started to inch back closer to him. They were neck and neck as they rose up to clear the cliff edge on the far side of the lake. 

Harry drew ahead again as they hurtled across the school lawn toward the Quidditch pitch. Dawn could see the broom shed ahead, and tried to coach a little more speed out of her broom. Try as she might, Harry stayed a few feet in front of her. Neither of them let up as they approached the shed. They flew over top of it with Harry still in the lead. Only then did they slow down. Harry sat up on his broom and clasped his hands over his head in victory as he slowed and brought his broom back around to land in front of the shed. 

Dawn landed right after him. She was laughing. "That was great!" 

"So what does the winner get?" asked Harry. 

"How about this?" Dawn grabbed him, and planted a kiss right on his lips. 

"Ahem!" 

Harry jumped back away from Dawn, blushing furiously. He turned and saw Madam Hooch standing in the doorway of the shed. He saw that she seemed to be suppressing a laugh. 

"Oh, Madam Hooch, this is Dawn Summers. I was just giving her a flying lesson." 

"Oh, that's what kids are calling it these days," said Madam Hooch. Harry's blush deepened, and Dawn started to turn red too. "A very nice bit of flying it was too," she told Dawn. "And this time I _am_ talking about the flying. Very well done for a beginner. Your landing was a little sloppy though, needs a little more practice I think." She glanced at Harry's broom. "Glad to see you can still fly a standard broom fairly well Potter. You haven't gone and let yourself be spoiled by your Firebolt. Um, where is your Firebolt?" 

"Oh, I left it with Hermione, so it would be a fair race." Harry looked back toward the lake. "Here they come now." 

Buffy and Hermione were cruising across the lawn toward them. They came in to land, and Dawn was pleased to see that her landing had been smoother than either of theirs. 

Hermione handed Harry back his broom. "Here you go Harry, I think I'll stick with the Shooting Stars. This is a little much for me to handle." 

"Is that _really_ that much better a broom?" asked Dawn. 

"Why don't you show them, Harry?" asked Hermione. 

"If you insist." Harry hopped onto his broom, and rocketed away. It only took him a few seconds to cover the 500 feet to the far side of the Quidditch pitch, and then he took an abrupt 90 degree turn…straight up. He kept going up until he almost disappeared. He finally slowed, and reversed directions into a dive straight down, picking up more and more speed as he came. 

Dawn watched Harry hurtle toward the ground. "Pull up!" she said quietly, but he didn't. "_Pull up!_" she shouted. She was sure he was going to smash into the ground and kill himself. 

Harry pulled out of his dive with about fifty feet to spare and came hurtling back across the lawn toward them, doing barrel rolls as he came. He pulled up into a loop just before he reached them, and came down to a smooth landing in front of them. 

"Oh god! I thought you were going to kill yourself!" said Dawn. 

"That dive?" asked Harry. "Wasn't even close. I've pulled out a lot closer to the ground than that when chasing the Snitch, haven't I Hermione?" 

"Yes," said Hermione. "And every time you do it, I think you're going to kill yourself." 

"I suggest that you put your brooms away, and get back to the castle." said Madam Hooch. "It's nearly dinner time." 

"Okay, Professor," said Harry. They gathered up the brooms and returned them to their shed. Harry made sure that they were all neatly placed in their racks. Madam Hooch got upset when students left the shed in disarray. They made their way up across the lawn to the castle gate. 


	13. Evaluations

Professor McGonagall came into the Gryffindor common room after they were finished their supper. She handed Dawn a roll of parchment. "Here is your schedule for the Professors you are going to meet with tomorrow. Any questions?" 

Dawn unrolled the parchment and looked at it. "Um, I seem to be spending a lot more time with some Professors than with others. I'm only spending half an hour with you, and two hours with Professor Vector." 

"Yes, well, we know you have had a Muggle education up until now, and very little Magical training, so we have apportioned time accordingly," said McGonagall. "I don't expect it to take long to learn all you know about Transfiguration. Arithmancy on the other hand is very close to Mathematics, so Professor Vector will no doubt have to spend some time evaluating you. Anything else?" 

"No, Professor." Dawn glanced down at her schedule. "I guess I'll see you at nine tomorrow." 

"Very well." McGonagall looked at Harry and Hermione. "I expect you two to make sure she doesn't get lost, and reaches all her appointments on time." 

"Yes Professor," said Harry. McGonagall turned to leave. 

"Oh Professor?" asked Hermione. 

McGonagall looked back at her. "Yes Granger?" 

"I was wondering if you could tell us what's holding up our OWL marks," said Hermione. "We were supposed to get them in mid-July. They're almost a month late." 

"Aw, yes," said McGonagall. "Well, there were a few…irregularities, caused by that Umbridge woman. It took some time to get sorted out. The Astronomy marks in particular. Apparently there was a…distraction, which brought everyone's marks down, and there was some debate about how to compensate fairly. You will be receiving your marks next week. Good night." McGonagall swept out of the common room. 

Dawn looked at Harry and Hermione, and saw they were grinning. "What happened during the Astronomy exam?" 

"Oh, Umbridge tried to arrest Hagrid on some trumped up charge," said Harry. "There was a battle on the lawn between him, her, and half a dozen of her lackies. McGonagall tried to help him and got hit by four stunning spells. Damn near killed her. We could see the whole thing from on top of the Astronomy tower during the test. Needless to say once it started, no one was paying much attention to the stars or planets." 

Dawn took another look at her schedule. It was going to be a busy day for her tomorrow, starting at eight o'clock when she was supposed to see Professor Snape for an hour. Dawn figured that meant that they must think she knew _something_ about potion making. She had done a few on her own, and helped Willow prepare others. 

They sat around in the common room for a while with Harry and Hermione telling horror stories about Professor Snape, and how he treated Gryffindors in general, and Harry in particular. Buffy sat off to the side reading a book, and listening in. Professor Snape sounded like he would have gotten along fine with Principal Snyder at Sunnydale High. She guessed that every school had to have one. She wondered if she should have a word with this Snape guy. Let him know what had happened to Snyder. 

* * *

Harry and Hermione escorted Dawn down to the Potions dungeon the next morning. Harry stopped at the top of the stairs. "You better go the rest of the way without me. The less Snape sees of me, the better his mood will be." 

"What are you guys going to be doing while I'm with Snape?" asked Dawn. 

"Oh, don't worry. We'll think of something. You better get going. Snape hates it when students are late." 

Hermione took Dawn the rest of the way down to the Potions dungeon. They entered the classroom and saw that Professor Snape was there ahead of them. He had a table set up at the front of the dungeon, covered with apparatus, and bottles and jars of ingredients. 

Snape looked up at them. "Well, I see you managed to find your way back, at least your guide did. That will be all Miss Granger. You may leave us." 

"Yes Professor," said Hermione. "Good luck!" she whispered to Dawn as she turned and left. 

"Well, don't just stand there!" said Snape. "We don't have all day, get down here!" 

"Yes, Professor," said Dawn, and she came quickly down the stone steps to the front of the dungeon. She looked over the items on the table curiously. 

Snape picked up a bottle, and handed it to her. "Tell me about this." 

Dawn looked at the bottle. "Um, it's Asphondel Root." 

"Congratulations Miss Summers. You can read the label. Can you tell me anything else about it?" 

Dawn put the bottle down. "Nope." 

Snape scowled at her. He picked up another bottle. "This?" 

"Oh, Mandrake Root!" said Dawn. She knew this one, they used to sell it in the Magic Box. "Used in lots of curative potions. Um…you can't pack it too tight or it tends to go all wonky." 

Snape raised an eyebrow. "Wonky, Miss Summers?" 

"Bad. Off. Spoils. You know, wonky." 

Snape frowned, and handed her another bottle of something Dawn didn't have a clue about. He kept going, and she figured she managed to say something about one item in three, beyond the name on the bottle. She knew she surprised him a time or two when she identified some of the items. Especially when she started into all the different uses of Lethe's Bramble. He cut her off when she was only about half way done telling him some of the mind control and memory erasure spells you could do with it. 

Her comment about the Burba Weed surprised him most though. "Um, this vampire I used to know would crush it up and add it to his blood. He said it spiced it up." 

"_You_ knew a vampire?" asked Snape. 

"Yeah, Spike," said Dawn. "Actually I've known a couple, but I knew Spike best. He's dead now. I miss him." Snape looked at Dawn like she had suddenly sprouted horns or something. "You don't believe me, ask my sister. Spike was a very unusual vampire." 

Snape stopped quizzing her about the various ingredients he had on his table, and went on to the apparatus. Dawn did much better there. She was familiar with many of the items from Chemistry classes. He had her demonstrate how to use the scales to weigh both solids and liquids, and the use of a pipette for measuring liquids. 

Professor Snape's mood seemed to worsen, the more Dawn showed that she knew. There were twenty minutes left in their allotted hour when he turned away and slapped his wand against the blackboard at the front of the class. "Prepare this!" Writing appeared on the board. 

Dawn read over the directions. They weren't exactly in a form she was used to, but the same general information was present that she would expect to see in a Chemistry lab procedure. A list of ingredients, a list of apparatus, and instructions for what to do. She glanced at her watch. "Um, I don't think I'll have time to do all this before I'm supposed to see Professor McGonagall." 

"Do as much as you have time for," said Professor Snape. 

"Okay." Dawn started gathering the ingredients she'd need. Most of them were items that were already out on the table. "Um, we don't have any powered Bicorn Horn here. Where do I find it?" 

Snape pointed toward a cabinet by the wall. "Anything not already out can be found in there." 

Dawn smiled at him, which only made his scowl get worse. "Thanks." She went to the cabinet and got the Bicorn Horn and took another look over her shoulder at the blackboard to make sure she had everything. She was still missing the crushed Scarab Beetles so she got some of those too. 

She took them back to the table and got the scale ready to start measuring her ingredients. "So, how precise do these quantities have to be?" she asked. 

"What do you mean?" asked Professor Snape. 

"Well, it says I need 1/4 ounce of the Bicorn Horn," said Dawn. "I could spend a lot of time measuring out exactly .250 ounces, but it would be a waste of time if anything from .24 to .26 ounces is good enough." 

"Unless otherwise noted, a margin of five percent is adequate for this potion," said Snape. 

"Okay." Dawn started carefully pouring the Bicorn Horn out onto the pan, and stopped when the scale said she had .246 ounces. She went on to measure out the next ingredient. "What does 'meld' mean?" 

"What?" asked Snape. 

"Down near the bottom," said Dawn. "It says to 'meld the crushed Scarab Beetles with the Asphondel Root.' Is that just a fancy way of saying 'mix' or is there some special melding technique?" 

"I doubt you will get that far," said Snape, "but if you do, I will demonstrate the technique." 

Dawn flashed him another smile. "Thanks!" Snape's scowl got even deeper. 

Dawn hadn't quite gotten as far as melding the Scarabs with the Asphondel when Hermione came back. "Professor, it's time to take Dawn to see Professor McGonagall." She looked at the procedure written on the blackboard and frowned. 

"Very well." Professor Snape withdrew his wand and waved it over Dawn's half finished potion. "_Evanesco._" Everything she had been working on vanished. "You may go." 

Dawn smiled at him again. "Thank you Professor." She started to follow Hermione toward the door at the back of the dungeon. She stopped and turned around again. "Oh, Professor Snape? One more question: What was that potion supposed to do?" 

"I was wondering if you'd get around to asking that one, Miss Summers. Perhaps Granger can answer that question for you." 

Hermione looked back at the board. "It doesn't really _do_ anything. Pretty much every step cancels out whatever effect the previous step may have had, but…" 

"But what, Granger?" asked Professor Snape. 

"But do any step wrong and it blows up in your face." 

"Very good. Good day Miss Summers." 

Dawn's smile widened. "Thank you Professor!" She turned back around and followed Hermione out into the corridor. 

"You really enjoyed that?" asked Hermione. 

"Yeah, it was kinda fun," said Dawn. "And the more you smile at him, the grumpier Professor Snape gets." 

"You were _baiting_ him?" 

"Only a little. I really did enjoy the potions stuff." 

"How far did you get with that procedure?" asked Hermione. 

"About two thirds, why?" 

Hermione stopped and looked at her. "Most of our class last year would have blown themselves up by the time they were half way through it." 

They met Harry at the top of the stairs. "So how'd it go?" he asked. 

"It was fun!" said Dawn. 

"Er, are you feeling all right?" Harry reached out and put a hand on Dawn's forehead. "She's not running a fever," he told Hermione. "Maybe it wasn't Snape. Maybe someone impersonating him using Polyjuice Potion." 

Hermione led them up the stairs toward the first floor, where McGonagall's office was. "It was Snape all right. He tried to blow her up." 

"I'm sure that if he was _really_ trying to blow me up, he would have succeeded," said Dawn. "It was a test, and I think I passed. Professor Snape may be the world's grouchiest person, but I don't think he's as bad as you guys were making out last night." 

"You haven't seen the way he treats Harry yet," said Hermione. "Here we are." She knocked on the door to Professor McGonagall's office, and her voice invited them in. 

Professor McGonagall asked Harry and Hermione to stay while she talked with Dawn, and had them demonstrate a couple of simple transfiguration spells that she then had Dawn attempt to emulate. Dawn tried, without any success. McGonagall called a halt after five minutes of Dawn trying to turn a match into a needle and sent her off to see Professor Flitwick. 

"Well, I suck at Transfiguration," said Dawn as they walked off down the hall together. 

"Don't worry about it," said Harry. "Our first Transfiguration class, Hermione was the only one who even came close to managing that spell, and she just made the match go a little silvery, and get a bit sharp at the end. And we all had a lot longer to try than McGonagall gave you." 

Dawn's meeting with Professor Flitwick went very much the same way as her meeting with McGonagall, except when he had her try the _Wingardium Leviosa_ spell on a feather. On her first few attempts nothing happened, but after Professor Flitwick corrected her pronunciation, and the way she swished and flicked her wand the feather suddenly flew up off the table in front of her. Instead of just floating in the air it kept accelerating upward until the quill end of it embedded itself in the ceiling. 

Professor Flitwick seemed quite startled. "Yes, well, no problems with your power I'd say, but I think we may have to work on your _control._" 

Next on Dawn's schedule was two hours with Professor Vector. She sent Harry and Hermione away, and then asked Dawn to describe what she had learned in her last year of Mathematics at her old school. Dawn spent half an hour talking about the things she had learned at Sunnydale High, and then Professor Vector started setting math problems for her. They covered a wide range of topics: trigonometry, geometry, factoring equations, finding the roots of quadratic equations, linear algebra, matrices, and half a dozen other things that Dawn had never heard of before. 

Dawn left Professor Vector after two hours, and made her way back up to Gryffindor tower. Her schedule gave her an hour lunch break before she had to go to her afternoon evaluation sessions. She was already feeling exhausted, her session with Professor Vector had been the most taxing so far, strangely because it was the one session where she understood most of what she was doing. 

Dawn was feeling a little rested after a good lunch, and went off for her afternoon sessions with Professors Lupin, Sprout, Binns and the final session with Hagrid. 

Harry and Hermione went with Dawn as they crossed the lawn to Hagrid's hut. They assured her that they'd been to see Hagrid while Dawn was with Professor Vector, to find out just what he had in mind to show her, and that he wasn't planning on introducing her to anything too deadly. "There are a couple that can give you a nasty bite if you aren't careful, but nothing Madam Pomfrey won't be able to set right in an hour or two," said Harry. 

The session with Hagrid started out quite nicely. He warned her to take off her jewelry and put it in her pockets before he introduced her to a Niffler. 

"Oh, he's so cute!" Dawn stroked the Niffler carefully with one finger while she held it in the palm of her hand. 

"Aye, they are cute little fellers," said Hagrid, "but they'll really tear things up once they start lookin' for somethin' shiney. If you still had on yer earrings it'd rip em right off er yer ears! Now let me 'ave 'im, an I'll show yer somat else!" 

Hagrid showed Dawn a succession of creatures, some cute and cuddly like the niffler, and others of a more scary nature. Harry could see that Hagrid was watching Dawn's reactions to each creature carefully, noting how well she followed directions for how to handle them. The only one Dawn refused to touch, despite Hagrid's assurances that it was quite friendly and wouldn't bite, was a large spider, with legs about a foot long. Harry would have called it a giant spider if he'd seen it before he'd met Aragog. 

"Well now, that went well!" announced Hagrid after he had replaced the last of the creatures—a Cornish Pixie—he had for Dawn to see into its cage. "I've got a special surprise for yer out back!" 

Harry and Hermione exchanged a look. They hadn't been warned about this. "Um, what _sort_ of surprise is this Hagrid?" asked Hermione. 

"Don't you worry!" said Hagrid. "It's an old friend, come back home! Come on now!" Hagrid lumbered away toward the paddock behind his hut. 

Harry, Dawn and Hermione followed Hagrid. They stopped just as soon as they cleared the corner. The creature in front of Dawn was totally amazing. Hind quarters like a horse, and front like a giant eagle, with grey feathers and giant wings. 

"Buckbeak!" cried Harry. 

"What about the Execution Order?" asked Hermione. 

"Professor Dumbledore got it overturned!" said Hagrid. "When the wizard filing the complaint turned out to be a Death Eater, and half the original panel all turned out to be takin' bribes from him, we got 'im a new hearing! An' this time I kept my head, and I remembered all the research yer'd done, and we got 'im off!" 

Harry and Hermione moved toward Buckbeak. Dawn saw that they stopped a good distance in front of the creature, and bowed to it. Buckbeak bowed back, and they both moved in closer and started to stroke his beak and feathers. 

"Now Dawn, yer saw what Harry and Hermione did there?" asked Hagrid. Dawn nodded. "Tha's the way yer have to approach a Hippogriff. Yer have ter show 'em respect. Yer look 'em in the eye, try not to blink much, an' when they look back, yer bow to 'em. If the Hippogriff bows back, yer can move closer. If'n it don't, back away. An whatever yer do, don't insult 'em! Hippogriffs are very proud creatures, and can get right nasty when insulted." 

"Who'd want to insult such a beautiful creature?" asked Dawn as she stepped closer to the Hippogriff. She stopped where Harry and Hermione had stopped, and waited for Buckbeak to look at her. She bowed deeply and straightened up again, hoping that Buckbeak would bow back. She was not disappointed, and moved in closer. She reached up to stroke his beak, feeling very aware that he could probably snap her arm right off with it. "Oh, you are lovely!" 

Dawn declined the offer to go for a ride on Buckbeak, though she stayed with him well past the end of the hour allotted for her session with Hagrid. It was nearly dinner time when they left Hagrid's hut to go back to the castle. 


	14. Remedial Magic

There was a stack of books waiting for Dawn on the common room table when they got back, with a note sitting on top of it. She picked it up and read it. "Oh, god, I'm supposed to read the first two chapters of _A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration_ and the first chapter of _Magical Theory_ tonight," she told Harry and Hermione. "And we're starting with Professor McGonagall first thing tomorrow morning. She says I'll find out the rest of my schedule then." 

Dawn grunted as she picked up the stack of books. They were pretty heavy. "I guess I better get started. Call me when dinner gets here." She carried the books to the stairway that led up to her room. 

Dawn was half way through the first chapter of her assigned reading when Hermione came up to get her for dinner. She ate quickly, and returned to her room to finish. She also took a look at some of her other books. Three volumes of _The Standard Book of Spells_, _Magical Draughts and Potions_, _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_ and several other books on Herbology, Arithmancy, and other subjects. 

It was nine o'clock when Dawn finally reappeared in the common room. Harry and Hermione were playing chess together and there was no sign of Buffy or Giles. "Rook takes pawn," said Harry, and Dawn wasn't the least bit surprised anymore to see that the rook moved across the board all on its own without anyone touching it. She was surprised by the way the tiny figure of a castle crushed the pawn under it though. "Check!" 

"Bishop takes rook," said Hermione, and her bishop slid across the board and smote the castle with its staff. The castle crumbled away to dust. 

"Queen takes bishop." Harry's queen moved to the hotly contested square, drew a sword, and cut the bishop down. "And that's checkmate." Hermione's king dropped his sword in surrender. Harry looked up at Dawn. "So you get all your reading done?" 

"Uh, yeah," said Dawn. "I never thought of chess as a violent game before." 

"Wizard chess," said Harry. "I hear some Muggles found out about it a few years ago and created a computer version. Called it 'Battle Chess.'" 

"Oh, yeah, I've heard of that." Dawn looked around. "What happened to Buffy and Giles?" 

"They went off to see Professor Lupin," said Hermione. "They said something about training him in Watcher 101 while you were getting Remedial Magic. So all set for your first real Transfiguration class tomorrow?" 

"Yeah," said Dawn. "I think I might understand how that matchstick to a needle spell's supposed to work now." 

"We don't have any matchsticks." Hermione looked around and saw Crookshanks curled up by the fire. She went over to him and stroked her hand along his back a couple of times. When she came back to the table she brushed several cat hairs onto the table, and waved her wand over them. They transformed into matchsticks. "Try on one of those." 

Dawn separated one of the matches from the others and placed it in the center of the table. She waved her wand over it, and spoke the words of the spell. This time the matchstick shimmered, and got a little skinnier and more needle like, but it still looked like a wooden match. 

"Hey, pretty good!" said Harry. "Um, try putting a little more emphasis on 'metallum' when you say the spell. Try again." 

Dawn repeated her attempt. This time she got what looked like a metal replica of a match. 

"Okay, we're getting there," said Harry. "Let's see if we can combine the two effects." 

By the time Buffy and Giles came into the common room Dawn had a pile of sharp metal pins in front of her. She was working on getting eye holes in them to make proper needles. She demonstrated what she'd been doing to Buffy and Giles. "Neat, huh?" 

"The neatest!" said Buffy, "But I think it's time for you to get to bed. You have an early start tomorrow." 

Dawn looked at her watch and saw that it was nearly eleven o'clock. She suddenly found herself having to stifle a yawn. "Gosh, you're right! I totally lost track of the time." She started to sweep up the needles and matchsticks with her hands. 

"Here, I'll take care of it," said Hermione. Dawn pulled her hands away and Hermione's wand swept over the table. All the matchsticks and needles became cat hairs again, that another flick of Hermione's wand sent flying into the fireplace where they sparked as they burned up. 

"Wow, magic certainly makes cleanups a breeze!" said Dawn. 

"Get to bed!" said Buffy. "I'll be up in a little while." 

"Yes Master!" said Dawn. She started up the stairs toward her room, with Hermione right behind her. She saw that Harry was heading for the stairs up to his room too. "See you in the morning!" she called to him. 

"Good night!" said Harry. 

* * *

Dawn was asleep before Buffy came up to bed, and Buffy was still sleeping next morning when Hermione woke Dawn up. She and Giles still hadn't appeared when Harry, Hermione and Dawn had finished their breakfasts, and left the tower to go to Dawn's first Transfiguration class. 

Dawn didn't see Professor McGonagall when they arrived in the Transfiguration classroom. There was a large tabby cat with unusual rectangular markings around its eyes sitting on her desk. "Looks like the Professor slept in," said Dawn. "You could have let me get a few more minutes." She saw the way Harry and Hermione were grinning. "What?" 

Harry gestured toward the cat. Dawn turned back to look at it, just in time to see it transform in to Professor McGonagall with a slightly audible _pop!_ "Good morning Miss Summers." 

"Oh, good morning Professor. That was cool!" 

"Thank you Miss Summers." Professor McGonagall sat at her desk. "Before we start your lesson today, here is your schedule for the next two weeks." She held out a roll of parchment to Dawn. 

"Thanks." Dawn took the roll and looked at it. Harry and Hermione looked over her shoulder. After a two hour Transfiguration class with Professor McGonagall she had two hours of Charms with Professor Flitwick. After lunch she had Arithmancy and History of Magic. Then on Wednesday— 

"Four hours of Snape!" exclaimed Harry. 

"Potter, if term was in session you would have just lost ten points," said Professor McGonagall. "You will refer to your professors by their proper titles." 

"Yes, Professor McGonagall, but four hours with Professor Snape?" 

"Professor Snape seemed to be quite impressed with Miss Summers. He believes that with two weeks of intense study to prepare, she may be ready to take on his advanced Potions classes." 

"Five years worth of Potions in two weeks?" asked Hermione. "Can't be done!" 

"We don't expect it to be done," said Professor McGonagall, "but Severus believes that Miss Summers can have the basics down in that time, and with additional study, she can be working at a sixth year level by Christmas." 

"I can't take that much of Snape," muttered Harry. 

"Lucky for you _Professor_ Snape feels the same way," said Professor McGonagall. "He has specifically requested that you not accompany Miss Summers to her Potions classes. She will be taking those with Miss Granger helping her alone." 

"Oh, joy!" said Hermione. She saw the look McGonagall was giving her. "Sorry Professor." 

"Yes, well, Miss Summers will have four hours of Potions, every other day for the next two weeks, except for the weekend where she will have four hours on both Saturday and Sunday." 

"The weekend too?" asked Harry. "Doesn't she get any time off?" 

"For the next two weeks, no," said Professor McGonagall. "Once the school term starts, Miss Summers will be following a schedule similar to our other students." 

Hermione took another look at Dawn's schedule. "There's no Defense Against the Dark Arts on here." 

"Yes, well, Professor Lupin feels that Miss Summers couldn't really benefit from it at this time," said McGonagall. 

"What does that mean?" asked Dawn. "I've got lots of experience in that sort of thing." 

"Until you have learned the basics of Charms and Transfiguration, you are not ready to learn defensive spells," said McGonagall. "But for non-magical defense, your practical experience in the field is far beyond that of even our senior students. You may not know about many of the minor Dark Creatures that Potter and Granger have learned about during their study here, but you have already faced several creatures that, quite frankly, we don't even consider teaching our students to defend against. They are part of the advanced Auror courses for students who have graduated from Hogwarts. If you perform as well as expected in your Transfiguration and Charms lessons over the next two weeks, Professor Lupin feels that you will be able to join his sixth year DADA classes without any other training. 

"Since Potter's mornings will be free on the days when Miss Summers is taking Potions, he will be seeing Professor Dumbledore. The Headmaster thinks it is time for you to resume your Occlumency lessons. He expects you at ten o'clock tomorrow morning. 

"Now, if you don't have any other questions, let's see if you learned anything from your reading last night." Professor McGonagall placed a matchstick on her desk. "Let's see you transform that into a needle." 

McGonagall was impressed with the pin that Dawn was able to produce, and they spent the rest of their time together working on more difficult transformations, and the theory behind them. She also gave Dawn two more chapters to read before their next class. 

They moved on to Charms with Professor Flitwick. Dawn had read the chapter of _Magical Theory_ he had set for her, but she hadn't practiced her levitation spell, so when asked, she stuck another feather into the ceiling. Professor Flitwick accepted that quite calmly, and suggested that she try a less vigorous swish with her wand on the next attempt. By the end of the class Dawn had her feather flying around the room, going where she commanded it. She was feeling quite proud of herself. Flitwick assigned her two more chapters to read before their next class too. 

When Dawn got back to the dorm after History that afternoon she found a note from Professor Snape telling her to read the first four chapters of _Magical Draughts and Potions_. He also wanted an essay on the uses of Burba Weed, _other_ than spicing up blood for vampires, to be handed in to him at the start of next morning's class. A quick check of the index of _MD&P_ didn't show any references to Burba Weed in it, so Dawn got up again and headed for the library. Hopefully she could have the essay done before dinner. 

* * *

Dawn and Hermione arrived in Snape's dungeon at eight the next morning. Dawn dropped a couple of white pages on his desk. 

"What's this?" asked Snape. 

"My essay on Burba Weed." said Dawn. 

"It's not parchment." 

"Well, no, it's regular paper," said Dawn. "Parchment is so nineteenth century." 

"It wasn't written with a quill." 

Dawn pulled a ballpoint pen out of her bag and wiggled it between her fingers. "Again, it's the twenty-first century. These work much better." 

"All Hogwarts essays are to be written on parchment, with a quill pen," said Professor Snape. 

"Look," said Dawn. "If you plan to teach me five years of Potions in two weeks, we're going to have to take a few shortcuts. Unless you can give me a heck of a lot better reason than 'because I say so' I'm not going to bother learning to use a quill pen!" 

Professor Snape frowned at Dawn for a moment. "Very well." He waved his wand over the bench in front of her and Hermione and everything for the potion Dawn had been making the other day appeared in front of her. "Carry on where you left off. Granger can show you the proper technique for melding." 

Professor Snape fixed Hermione with his gaze. "You may answer Summers' questions, but you are not to offer suggestions without her asking you. If she asks you how to do something, you may demonstrate it, but Summers must do the procedure herself for any ingredients added to her potion. Carry on." He sat down at his desk, and started to read Dawn's essay. 

* * *

Dawn came down to the common room after finishing her reading for Professor McGonagall. She needed a break before she started in on Flitwick's assignment. Hermione was reading a book, and Harry was sitting on the floor by the fire, just looking at the flames. Dawn sat down beside him. "Whatcha doin'?" 

Harry glanced at her, and smiled. "Trying to clear my mind. I'm supposed to practice every night. Part of my Occlumency training." 

"I meant to ask what that was." 

"It's supposed to help keep Voldemort out of my mind," said Harry. "We've got this connection." Harry pointed at his scar. "Because of this. I can sometimes feel what he's feeling, especially when he's really mad, or really happy. Sometimes in my dreams I see what he's seeing. This is so I can shut him out." 

"Sounds like it could be useful…knowing what he's up to." 

"Yeah, I used to think that too…but Voldemort knows I can do it, and he can use it against me. Send me false dreams. That's how he tricked us last spring. Sent me a dream that he was torturing Sirius, when he really wasn't, so I'm learning to shut him out." Harry looked back into the flames. 

"Oh." Dawn sat watching him for a minute. "Have you tried breathing?" 

"Huh?" Harry looked at her. "I think I pretty much do that all the time." 

"Yeah, but you don't think about it," said Dawn. "A basic meditation technique is to concentrate on your breathing. Here, look at me. Sit like this." Dawn sat facing him, her legs crossed, her back straight, her hands on her knees. Harry matched her pose. "Okay, now you start by just breathing with your diaphragm. Take a deep breath through your nose, and let it out, without moving your chest." Dawn demonstrated. 

Harry emulated her, matching his breathing with hers, feeling the air flowing in and out. 

"Good," said Dawn after a minute. "Now try it with just your chest." Her chest rose and fell as she took another deep breath. Harry smiled as he copied her. 

They spent another minute breathing with just their chests. "Now comes the hard part," said Dawn. "We combine them. Take a deep breath using your diaphragm, and then inhale more with your chest. Hold for a beat, then exhale with your chest, and then with your diaphragm. The staged exhale is the tricky part." 

Harry tried doing as Dawn said, and was surprised to find she was right. It was hard to control his exhalation that way. He had to fight at first to keep from letting out all the air at once. It took him a little time to get the hang of it. They sat together, their breathing synchronised. Dawn closed her eyes as they breathed together. Harry found his eyes drawn to Dawn's rising and falling chest. 

"I think you might find it works even better if you close your eyes," said Hermione. Harry looked toward her and saw that she was watching them over top of her book. It hid her mouth, but her eyes were sparkling. Harry blushed. 

Dawn climbed back to her feet. "Watching the fire while you do it would be good too. I need to get back. I've got two more chapters to read for Professor Flitwick." She smiled down at Harry. "That was good. Really relaxing. Gets all the tension out. See you later." 

Dawn bounced away toward the stairs up to the girls' dorms. Harry watched her go, and then turned back to the fire. He inhaled, filling his lungs in stages, and let out the breath again while he watched the flames dance in front of him. 


	15. Seventeen

The next week passed in a blur of activity. Nearly all of Dawn's waking hours were spent in classes, the library researching assignments, her room reading, or practicing spells with Harry and Hermione in the common room. She didn't see much of Buffy or Giles. They seemed to be spending their time with Professor Lupin, giving him as intense a course in training Slayers as she was getting in Magic. 

Dawn trudged toward the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. She had just finished another essay for Professor Snape on Wolfsbane Potion in the library and was looking forward to having another meditation session with Harry. They'd been doing it together every night. He said it was really helping with his Occlumency, and it helped relieve Dawn's stress, and clear her mind before tackling the night's pile of homework. 

Dawn stopped. She didn't have anything that needed to get done! She had a night free! She couldn't believe it! All of her professors except Snape had given her unusually light assignments to be done for tomorrow, and she'd already finished them all. Dawn began to wonder how she would keep herself busy. 

She walked up to the painting of the Fat Lady. "Queerditch Marsh." 

The painting swung open. "Happy birthday!" said the Fat Lady. 

"Huh?" asked Dawn. She stepped through into the common room. 

"_Happy Birthday!_" cried half a dozen voices. 

Dawn looked around the common room. Buffy and Giles and Harry and Hermione were there, and so were Professors Lupin, McGonagall, Hagrid and Flitwick. She saw a banner hanging across the room. 'Happy Birthday Dawn!' 

"_Oh-my-god!_ I totally forgot!" 

"Lucky for you, I didn't." Buffy came forward and gave Dawn a hug. "Happy Seventeen Little Sis!" 

"Oh my god!" cried Dawn. "I can't believe this!" The Gryffindor common room was fully decorated. She hadn't noticed before, but Professor Snape was there too, looking miserable, and trying to hide in a corner. "This is great!" 

Dinner that night consisted entirely of American junk food. All the things that Dawn had been missing since they had come to Britain a couple of months ago. She didn't know how they managed it but the House Elves had somehow come up with hamburgers that tasted just like she remembered Doublemeat Medleys tasting. There had been a time when she'd wished that she would never eat another one of those things again, but tonight they were delicious, and the meal was capped off with a double chocolate cake with fudge icing. 

Most of the professors left after dinner, declaring that they had work to get done. Then came the presents. Dawn was impressed by the size of the pile. There were several small packages all piled on top of one large one. 

Dawn started with the top package. She looked at the card and saw it was from Harry and Hermione. She unwrapped it and discovered a box of Honeyduke's chocolate. "Thanks guys!" 

"We would have gotten you something better, but we were working on kinda short notice," said Hermione. 

"No, this is great!" said Dawn. "You can never have too much chocolate!" 

The next present she opened was from Buffy. It was a leather jacket, similar to the one Dawn had stolen for Buffy a couple of years ago. A package from Willow revealed a book of spells. Dawn couldn't help wondering how it would compare with what she'd been learning. 

There was a roughly wrapped present from Hagrid. Dawn opened it up and found a rock cake that Hagrid proudly declared he had made himself. Dawn smiled at him, and set it aside. "Thank you! I'll save it for later. I'm still stuffed from dinner!" 

The big package on the bottom had a tag on it that said it was from Xander, Faith and Andrew. Dawn couldn't help wondering what that trio could have gone together on to get her. She ripped off the wrapping paper and discovered a finely crafted wooden chest. She knew that Xander must have made it. She opened it up and found Andrew and Faith's gifts inside, each one separately wrapped. She opened the one from Andrew first and found a box set of the _Star Trek_ movies on DVD. "I have _got_ to get my computer working!" 

Dawn pulled the box from Faith out of Xander's chest and opened it. "Oh! My! God!" She held up a pair of black leather pants. 

"Remind me to kick Faith's ass, next time I see her," said Buffy. 

"No!" said Dawn. "These are great!" 

"You have to try them on!" said Hermione. 

"You're right!" Dawn took the pants and ran off up the stairs to her room. 

Hermione followed her. Dawn was already out of her jeans when she got there. One thing about sharing a house with twenty other girls: Dawn had lost all of her inhibitions about changing clothes when there were other girls about. Hermione didn't have many herself, having spent most of her life since she was eleven sharing a room with three other girls. 

Dawn pulled on the leather pants. They fit pretty well, Faith had obviously talked to Buffy about Dawn's measurements. She turned herself around for Hermione to inspect them. "What do you think?" 

"Almost perfect." said Hermione. "They just need a little adjustment." She pointed her wand at Dawn. "_Conformus!_" 

"_Ooh!_" Dawn felt her pants squirm around her. 

"There!" said Hermione. "Perfect." 

Dawn's pants now fit like a second layer of skin. She could barely feel them as she moved around their room. She looked at herself in a mirror. She turned to check out her ass. There was still one tiny flaw. 

Dawn peeled the pants off herself, along with her panties. She went to her underwear drawer and found the thong she had packed. She pulled it on, followed by the pants. She spun in front of Hermione. "What do you think?" 

"I think that Harry won't be able to speak," said Hermione. 

Dawn pulled on her black boots with the two inch heels before she went back downstairs. Hermione was right. Harry was speechless when he saw her again. She sat back down in a chair across from him near the fire and stretched out her legs. She rested her boot heels on the table between them. "So when's your birthday?" she asked. 

Harry managed to pull his eyes off her legs. "Oh, er, July 31. It was a couple of days before we first met. Professor Lupin had just rescued me from the Dursleys that morning." 

"Is it really that bad with them?" 

"It's that bad," said Harry. "They hate the idea of magic, and anything magical, and they hate me. Plus my cousin Dudley is a big bully, and Uncle Vernon and Aunt Pentunia think he's a perfect little darling who can do no wrong." Harry smiled. "Maybe that will change. He got arrested for vandalism a few weeks ago. Maybe _he'll_ spend the next year at _St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys_." 

"Huh?" asked Dawn. 

"They couldn't admit that I go to a school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, so they tell everyone that I go to _St. Brutus's_." 

Harry looked out the window. "It's properly dark now." He got up from his seat, and clapped for attention. "Come on everyone! There's one more surprise we've got for Dawn. It's outside!" 

Dawn got up too. "What is it?" 

"It's a surprise," said Hermione. "We have to go outside for it. I don't think the teachers will be quite so forgiving if we do it inside as they were last time." 

"Huh?" 

Harry picked up Dawn's new jacket and gave it to her. "Just come on!" 

Harry and Hermione led everyone out of the common room and down through the castle. They left through the main doors, and went down across the lawn, toward the cliff overlooking the lake. 

"Wait here," said Harry. Everyone stopped. He took out his wand and aimed it out across the water. "_Incendere!_" 

Fireworks erupted from the far side of the lake. Rockets flew into the sky and exploded, becoming brilliant dragons in all the colours of the rainbow that flew around the castle. Fountains of fire screamed skyward, lighting up the sky, and reflecting in the water. More rockets took off to explode overhead and send down streamers of fire. 

Dawn squealed with delight, and jumped up and down and applauded each new explosion. She wasn't the only one, though she was by far the most enthusiastic observer. Everyone was 'Eww'ing and 'Aww'ing at the explosions. She watched one of the fire dragons swoop down past the front entrance to the castle and saw that more people were coming out to see the show. Another flash of light showed that even the House Elves had taken a break to come and watch. 

"_This is great!_" Dawn yelled to Harry over the noise. 

"_I had Fred and George send up a Deflagration Deluxe Set!_" yelled Harry. 

"You must send them my compliments," said a soft voice on the other side of Harry, that was still somehow audible over the din. He looked and saw that Professor Dumbledore had joined them. "I was most disappointed that I didn't get to see their display last year." 

The fireworks went on for another fifteen minutes before they started to subside. New rockets and streamers of fire stopped erupting, and the noise level dropped. The fires burning across the sky slowly faded, until there just one lone dragon flying over the lake. It exploded, raining sparks down onto the water. 

Everyone applauded the show, and then in ones and twos, they started moving back toward the castle. Soon Dawn and Harry were the only ones left there in the dark. 

"Thank you," said Dawn softly. "That was wonderful." 

"You're welcome, I'm glad you enjoyed them." 

"Harry?" 

"Hmm?" 

Dawn didn't say anything. She gently pulled Harry toward her and kissed him. The kiss went on for a long time. Harry's arms went around her, pulling her closer. 

When the kiss finally ended they continued to stand together holding each other. "Hmm," Dawn purred against him. "That was wonderful too." 

"Very wonderful," said Harry. 

"I'd love to continue, but I've got Potions at eight tomorrow morning." 

"I guess that means we should get back inside." 

"I guess." 

Harry let go of Dawn and started to pull away a bit. She didn't let him get totally free from her. She kept one arm around his waist as they started back to the castle. Harry rested his arm across her shoulder. 

They were still holding each other when they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady. They separated a bit as they entered the common room, but they were still holding hands. There was no one there. The fire had burned down, and the House Elves had already cleaned up from the party. 

"Well, goodnight," said Harry. "I'll see you in the morning." 

Dawn pulled Harry to her and kissed him again. "Goodnight Harry. Thank you for a wonderful birthday." They separated, and moved toward the stairways on opposite sides of the common room. Dawn stopped when she got to the base of the stairs and looked back. She saw Harry looking at her, with a silly grin on his face. She grinned back, and waved goodnight again before she went up to her room. 

Buffy and Hermione were in their pajamas, and sitting on their beds when Dawn came into the room. "Well?" asked Buffy. 

"Well what?" asked Dawn. 

"Is he a good kisser?" asked Hermione. 

"Will I have to break his arms?" asked Buffy. 

"Yes, and _no!_" Dawn started to get undressed. "He's a wonderful kisser, and I will hurt you if you hurt Harry." 

Hermione and Buffy grilled Dawn while she got changed into her pajamas. They wanted details. They seemed rather disappointed by what Dawn was willing to tell them. Dawn finally got them to shut up by reminding them that she and Hermione had four hours of Potions in the morning. She got into her bed, and the candles extinguished themselves. 

Dawn lay awake in her bed for a while, remembering the feel of Harry's lips on her own, and his arms around her. She was still smiling when she finally faded off to sleep. 

* * *

* * *

**A Note on Dawn's Birthday**

Dawn's birthday has never been given in Buffy, but all indications are that it takes place during the summer. Whenever her age has been mentioned during a season it has been the same: fourteen in season five, fifteen in season six, and sixteen in season seven. 

I always figured that the monks picked the day they actually made Dawn as her birthday, which would put it in mid-to-late August. 


	16. OWLs

Harry joined Dawn and Hermione for breakfast the next morning, something he didn't always do when they had Potions. Buffy and Giles were still in bed. The owl arrived with Hermione's _Daily Prophet_. It had just departed when a second owl came and deposited two parchment envelopes on the table, one for Harry, and one for Hermione, both bearing the Hogwarts seal on the back. They picked up their envelopes, and then just sat staring at them. 

"Well?" asked Dawn. 

"It's our OWL marks," said Hermione. 

"So, open them!" said Dawn. 

"We're too terrified," said Harry. 

"They're just marks!" 

"These are OWLs!" said Hermione. "They affect everything! What courses we can take, what careers we can have!" 

"And they aren't going to change by you staring at their envelopes," said Dawn. "Open them up! Get it over with." 

Hermione handed her envelope to Harry. "Here, you do it!" 

Harry gave his envelope to Hermione. "You do mine." 

Harry ripped open Hermione's envelope first. He pulled out the sheet of parchment and quickly scanned it with his eyes. "This isn't good." 

"What?" asked Hermione. "What happened? Ancient Runes, isn't it? That stupid mixup between 'eihwaz' and 'ehwaz'! I knew it would do me in!" 

Harry tossed the parchment toward her. "'Outstanding' in everything. You're going to be insufferable for the next month! Now what did I get?" 

Hermione opened Harry's envelope. She pulled out the parchment contained in it and read it carefully. "Well?" asked Harry. 

"Let's see. You got an 'Acceptable' in Astronomy." 

"I can live with that." 

"'Poor' in Divination." 

"Yeah, well, I've decided to embrace Buffy's philosophy when it comes to Prophecies." 

"'Poor' in History of Magic." 

"That's the one I fell asleep in. Come on Hermione. Let's get to the important stuff!" 

"Oh! 'Exceeds Expectations' in Care of Magical Creatures, and Herbology." 

"See! I told you Hagrid's a good teacher!" 

"Another 'Exceeds Expectations' in Transfiguration!" 

"You're really enjoying dragging this out aren't you?" 

"Oh! 'Outstanding' in Charms!" 

"Two to go." 

"Hmm. 'Outstanding' with an asterisk in DADA. That means you were the top of the class." Dawn took a glance at Hermione's grades, which were lying on the table in front of her, and saw that half of her 'Outstandings' had asterisks beside them. 

"Oh, I'd like to see how Umbridge would have reacted to _that!_" said Harry. "So what's the bad news? I know you've been holding back Potions till the end." 

"This isn't good." Hermione shook her head. "Snape is not going to like this one bit." 

"You mean…?" 

Hermione tossed him the parchment. "'Outstanding.' Looks like Professor Snape is stuck with you for another year." She looked at Dawn. "Snape only takes students who score 'Outstanding' in their OWLs for sixth year Potions." 

"Wait a minute," said Dawn. "Professor Snape has been talking like he expects _me_ to be in his sixth year Potions class." 

"Well, he seems to be stretching his rule a bit for you." 

"You don't think I'm that good?" asked Dawn. 

"No!" said Hermione. "You _are_ that good. I can't believe how much progress you've made. At the rate you're going, I think you'd pass an OWL Potions exam by the end of the week. Not an 'Outstanding,' but a pretty solid 'Acceptable,' and that's after only two weeks! If we had another week, at the rate we've been going, you'd get that 'Outstanding,' no problem." 

"Well, there's the problem that _another_ week like this, and I think I'd drop dead." Dawn got up from the table. "Speaking of…time to be on our way. Want us to give Snape the bad news?" she asked Harry. 

"Oh, no!" said Harry. "Wouldn't want him shooting the messenger. He probably knows already anyway. The marks go out to the teachers at the same time they go out to the students. Better hurry. He's going to be in a foul mood, won't want to make it worse by being late." 

Dawn ran up to her room to get her Potions things. She was borrowing Harry's until she could get her own. She came back down and saw that Harry was still sitting at the table, reading over his marks for himself, with a goofy smile on his face. She smiled herself and went over to him. She leaned down and gave him a quick kiss. "Congratulations." Harry had an even goofier smile on his face when she and Hermione left the common room. 

Harry got himself a quill and some parchment, and wrote Ron a letter to tell him the bad news about his and Hermione's OWL marks. He also told him to tell Fred and George that their fireworks had been a big hit the night before. He considered telling Ron about what he and Dawn had done when the fireworks were over, but decided that there were some things Ron didn't need to know. It was nearly time for his Occlumency lesson with Professor Dumbledore when he was finished. He went off to the Owlery to get Hedwig to deliver the letter. 

Harry looked at his watch when he got to the second floor. He still had lots of time before he was due to see Professor Dumbledore, so went down one more flight of stairs, and down the corridor to Professor McGonagall's office. He knocked on the door. 

"Come in." said McGonagall's voice from inside. Harry opened the door. Professor McGonagall looked up at him from her desk as he entered. "Is there something I can do for you Potter?" 

"Um, we got our OWL marks this morning," said Harry. 

"I am aware of that, Potter." 

"I wanted to say thank you." 

"I had no say in how individual marks were assigned. That is done entirely by the Wizarding Examinations Authority." 

"I know," said Harry. "But I couldn't have done it without you. You stood up for me with Umbridge…" For once McGonagall didn't react at all to Harry's leaving off a professor's title. "…and you put in the extra time to help me get my Transfiguration and Charms marks up, so thank you." 

A rare smile crossed Professor McGonagall's face. "You are welcome Potter. It is one of the great pleasures in a teacher's life, to see one of her students excel." She gestured toward the tartan tin sitting on the corner of her desk. "Have a biscuit." 

"Thank you, Professor." Harry opened the tin, and picked out a Ginger Newt. He took a bite from it. "Well, uh, I gotta go. I have to see Professor Dumbledore, but I wanted to say that first." 

"Very well. Good day Potter." 

"Bye, Professor. Thanks again." Harry left her office, and hurried up to the entrance to Dumbledore's office on the next floor. 


	17. Inheritance

"Chocolate Frog." 

The gargoyle stepped aside and the wall split open in front of Harry. He stepped through onto the spiral staircase and let it carry him upward. The door was open, but Harry knocked anyway. He didn't hear any response. 

"Professor?" Harry stepped through into Dumbledore's office. There was no sign of him. Fawkes was sitting on his perch watching Harry calmly. "Is the Professor running a little late today?" asked Harry. 

"Yes, sorry about that." Harry looked up and saw Dumbledore coming down the stairs from his private rooms. "I was held up by some other business." 

"I'm a couple minutes early anyway," said Harry. He drew his wand, and took a deep breath to clear his mind, ready to begin. 

Dumbledore smiled at him. "We won't be starting right away today. There is another matter we need to discuss. You have been making excellent progress though. I must say that it is most unusual for a pretty girl to _improve_ a boy's concentration." 

Harry blushed. "Er, what do we need to talk about?" 

Dumbledore sat in his desk chair, and waved for Harry to have a seat too. "You are aware that the Wizengamot has completely cleared Sirius Black of all charges?" 

Harry sat down. "Er, yes sir. I saw that in the _Prophet_." 

"It took a little while to sort out, but many of his assets were seized when he was first convicted—all of the ones that anyone could find. Those assets have been returned to his estate. It is a fairly tidy sum." 

"Er, yes sir, but what has that got to do with me?" 

"Sirius also left a will with me a couple of years ago, in which he named you as his sole heir. It also specified where to find all of his assets that _hadn't_ been seized." 

"Me? But I— I don't want it. I don't _need_ it." 

"I am aware of that Harry, but none the less, you have it." 

"Er, just what… What do I have?" 

"In addition to a rather large amount of cash—nearly as much as your parents left you—the main asset is number twelve Grimmauld Place, and most of its contents." 

"'Most' of its contents?" 

"Yes, well that doesn't include any personal items belonging to members of the Order of the Phoenix that happen to have been left lying around, but everything else in the house is now yours." Dumbledore smiled. "You are now the Order's landlord. You can kick us out if you want." 

"Oh, no!" said Harry. "Go ahead! Keep using it! Do whatever you want with it!" 

"There is one…item in that house that presents a special problem, I'm afraid…and it isn't that portrait of Sirius's mother." 

Harry thought for a bit. "Kreacher." 

"Precisely." 

"I now own a House Elf. Hermione will kill me. I can't free him. He knows too much about the Order." 

"I am afraid that Kreacher already managed to betray most of what he knew about us last Christmas," said Dumbledore. "We have certainly made sure that he hasn't learned any more since we learned of his betrayal, and he will still be bound by the Fidelius Charm. He will not be able to reveal the location of the house, or the identities of any of the members." 

"So I give him clothes," said Harry. "What then? I doubt if anyone else would take him on. What would happen to him? Would you take him here, like you did Dobby and Winky?" 

"No," said Dumbledore. "Especially if he were freed, I would not want him within the walls of Hogwarts." He smiled bitterly. "I may be famous for giving second chances, but the person has to _want_ the second chance." 

"I can't just throw him out in the street, I couldn't do that to him either." 

"It is a difficult problem." 

"What do you think I should do?" 

"If I saw a solution that appealed to me, I would tell you," said Professor Dumbledore. 

"Are there House Elf Retirement Homes?" asked Harry. 

"I'm afraid not," said Dumbledore. "They may take on lighter duties as they age, but they refuse to retire. There is one old elf here at Hogwarts whose entire job consists of cleaning my glasses every night. If I were to suggest that she stop doing it, I think it would kill her." 

"I don't know what to do," said Harry. 

"There is no urgency," said Dumbledore, "but I thought it best that you were aware of the problem. Give you a chance to think about it. You have come up with excellent solutions to difficult problems in the past." He drew his wand. "Now, it is time to resume your Occlumency lessons." 

Harry drew his wand, and took a deep breath, centering himself. "Ready." 

"_Legilimens!_" said Dumbledore. 

Occlumency training with Dumbledore was a lot different from what it had been with Snape. Snape had taken an approach very much like teaching someone to swim by throwing them into the deep end of the pool. He had assaulted Harry's mind, digging for the deepest and most terrifying of memories. 

Dumbledore had taken a gentler approach. He had started out with a light touch, barely caressing the outer edges of Harry's mind, and only increased his power as Harry's ability to resist him had increased. They had also started with more innocuous memories: Harry's first taste of chocolate, or what he'd eaten for dessert last Tuesday. At the end of the last lesson Dumbledore had asked Harry to pick a more emotionally charged memory for them to work with today—good or bad, the selection was up to Harry. Memories with strong emotion tied to them were more difficult to keep buried. 

Harry felt Dumbledore probing his mind, tickling free memories, looking for the one Harry was trying to keep hidden. Dumbledore pushed harder, and a series of memories from last night flashed through Harry's brain: the look of surprise on Dawn's face when she'd discovered their surprise party… Dawn stuffing a hamburger into her mouth… her leather pants… applauding the fireworks, the final wave and smile she gave him before going up the stairs to her room. The sequence of memories flashed through his brain again: other people at the party… the final exploding dragon… going up the stairs to his room… 

After several minutes Harry felt Dumbledore leave his mind. The Professor sat back in his chair and smiled. "Very well done, Harry. I know _something_ happened between you and Miss Summers between the end of the fireworks and your return to your room, and I can make a very good guess about what it was, but I can find no direct memory of it. I doubt if that was your strawberry lipstick you were tasting when you licked your lips when going up to bed though." 

Harry blushed. "Well, um, no, it wasn't." 

"Next, we will begin to work on hiding that you are hiding something," said Dumbledore. "Actually knowing that there is a hidden memory is more than half the battle when trying to uncover it. It would not take me long to force that memory out of you, now that I know it is there. One way to cover that you are hiding something is to hide more than one something. Everyone has memories they want to keep hidden, so you can use one secret to conceal another. Hide a secret that can kill you if discovered behind another secret that will shame you." Dumbledore smiled. "Embarrassment is much preferable to death, but once your interrogator finds the embarrassing memory, they may stop looking for the other." 

Dumbledore got up from his seat. "I'm afraid that we must cut this session short today. I am expected at the Ministry of Magic for some rather tiresome meeting about the school budget for the upcoming year." Harry got up too, and Professor Dumbledore escorted him to the door. "For our next session, I want you to have selected two memories to keep hidden from me. One to hide, and one to keep the hidden memory hidden." 


	18. Decisions

Harry met with Dawn and Hermione when they were returning to Gryffindor tower for lunch. "So how'd it go with Snape?" he asked. 

"He glowered, glared, and grumbled a lot," said Hermione. "We did the Draught of Peace today, and I think Dawn got it perfect. He even drank some it." 

"And now he wants thirty-six inches on Polyjuice Potion," said Dawn. 

"Oh, we can help you with that!" said Harry. "We made it—well it was mostly Hermione while Ron and I watched—second year." 

"And I wound up spending a month in hospital with fur on my face, and a tail," said Hermione. "It seems I spent half of second year in hospital, between the Polyjuice Potion, and the Basilisk." 

They entered the common room and Dawn dumped her Potions stuff by the table. She flopped down into a chair. "One more Potions to go!" 

"And I don't have to go to it," said Hermione. 

"What?" asked Harry. 

"Snape wants Dawn to go alone on Friday," said Hermione. "He told me stay away." 

"Ah…he's finally going to poison her, and doesn't want any witnesses." 

Dawn grimaced. "At this point, I'm almost ready to thank him if he does." 

"Thank who?" asked Buffy as she came in the door. 

"Professor Snape, if he poisons me." 

"I really don't think he'll do that," said Giles. 

"Don't be so sure," said Harry. "He threatened to poison me once during fourth year to test out the antidotes the class had made." 

Winky arrived hovering a large tray with their lunch over her head. She placed it on the table and asked if anyone wanted anything else, the way she always did. Everyone thanked her, and told her that the meal was fine and they didn't want anything else, the way they always did. Winky left and they all started to eat. 

The meal was interrupted by the arrival of a tiny grey owl. It landed hard on the table and rolled to a stop in front of Harry. It had a letter attached to each leg. 

"Hello Pig!" said Harry. "It's Ron's owl Pigwidgeon," he explained to Buffy, Giles and Dawn. He detached the letters from each leg, and after a glance at the envelopes handed one to Buffy. "This one's for you." He fed Pig a couple of the owl treats he kept for Hedwig, and sent him off to the Owlery. He opened the letter Ron had sent him. "Ron got his OWLs this morning too… Looks like he passed everything… No wonder Snape was in such a state. He didn't manage to get rid of any of us." He looked at Buffy. "What did you get?" 

Buffy smiled. "It's from Ginny. She says 'maybe.'" She looked at Dawn. "Have you made up your mind yet?" 

"You think I'd be working this hard if I _wasn't_ planning to come here?" asked Dawn. 

"Never know," said Buffy. "You might just have decided you really wanted to learn how to poison me." 

"Oh, I learned _that_ the second day. Any more from Ginny than 'maybe'?" 

"Oh, just that she's really excited, and looking forward to learning more about being a Slayer, and stuff like that, and that she's going shopping for school stuff in Diagon Alley next Wednesday, and wants to know if there's anything special she'll need to get." 

"Is there anything special she'll need to get?" asked Hermione. 

"I've noticed that this school doesn't have much in the way of athletics, other than Quidditch," said Buffy. "We'll probably need to make sure she has the right sort of exercise clothes, a good pair of shoes, stuff like that. Dawn and I will take her shopping when we go back. Dawn's going to have to get some of that stuff too." 

"I am?" asked Dawn. 

"Yeah, you still want to be Junior Watcher, right?" asked Buffy. "You're going to be Professor Lupin's assistant, and since he really doesn't have any training in the physical side of things, I figured you'd actually be taking the lead in that part of Ginny's training." 

"Me?" asked Dawn. "But I—" 

"You have more experience and training than just about anyone else," said Giles. "I am the only living person who has spent more time sparing with a Slayer than you, and you were very good working with all the Potentials last year." 

"Okay, but what would you have done if I hadn't decided to come here for school?" 

"Giles and I are going to be dropping in from time to time," said Buffy, "and Willow's probably going to be spending some time here too. Kennedy will no doubt be with her. We don't really plan on starting intensive combat training until Ginny's eighteen anyway." 

"Kennedy?" asked Hermione. 

"Willow's girlfriend, and a Slayer," said Dawn. "One who'd gotten years of training before she was called. Ginny should be thankful she's going to have me. Kennedy…takes a little getting used to." 

"Just a minute," said Harry. "Did you say 'Willow's _girlfriend_'?" 

"Yeah, you have a problem with that?" asked Dawn. 

"Uh, no, just making sure I heard you right." 

Dawn saw a smirk cross Harry's face, that he quickly tried to hide. She looked at her sister. "Boys!" 

"Will be boys," said Buffy. "Wouldn't have it any other way." 

* * *

Dawn arrived at her last Potions class at eight on the dot. The dungeon looked a little different today. Instead of ingredients and apparatus on her usual bench, there was a stack of books. Professor Snape wasn't there yet. Dawn placed her four page report on Polyjuice Potion on his desk and went to take her seat at her bench. She checked the titles of the books, and saw that they were the standard potions reference volumes that she'd consulted most often over the past two weeks. 

Professor Snape arrived and he placed a roll of parchment on the bench in front of her. "This is a standard OWL Potions test Miss Summers. Normally reference materials are not allowed for an OWL, but due to the rushed nature of your education I will allow them for this test. You have two hours to complete it. You may begin." 

Professor Snape returned to his desk and flipped over a large hourglass. He sat in his chair and began to read her Polyjuice essay. 

Dawn read through the test questions, prioritizing them. First do the questions she knew she could complete quickly, without having to resort to the reference books much. Save the difficult questions till the end. She remembered one test back at Sunnydale High where the teacher had told the students to read the entire test paper carefully before beginning, and at the bottom of the last page had added an instruction to only do the odd numbered questions. Snape hadn't done anything like that with this test. 

She went back to the first problem: 

_**'Describe in detail the use of Moonstone in the preparation of the Draught of Peace. Why is this ingredient essential to the preparation of this potion? What are the effects of using too much, too little, or improperly stirring the mixture?'**_

Dawn smiled to herself. They'd just done that on Wednesday. She started writing. 

Dawn completed about half the questions without having to resort to the reference books for anything other than looking up specific properties of certain substances in the standard tables. She glanced at the hourglass on Snape's desk and saw that its sand was about half gone. She started in on the questions that she'd have to do a little more research on. 

Dawn figured that she had about three quarters of the test completed when Snape told her to put her pen down. She sat up, pushed her hair back behind her ears, and shook her hand, which had started to cramp from all the writing. 

Professor Snape flicked his wand. "_Accio!_" Dawn's test paper went flying to him. He slapped his wand back against the blackboard behind him. "You now have two hours to complete these procedures. You know where to find everything you will need. Begin." He flipped over the hourglass again. 

Dawn read the four procedures on the blackboard, and nearly laughed when she got to the last one. It was the one he had asked her to do the first day. She went to the supply cupboard and started to collect ingredients. "Um, Professor Snape, you didn't try to rig this test did you?" she asked. 

Snape glared at her. "Why would you think I would do something like that?" He seemed genuinely angry. 

"Um, procedure four sir," said Dawn. 

Snape looked back at the board. Dawn heard a very strange sound. It might have been some sort of laugh. She couldn't imagine such a noise coming from Professor Snape, and he was glowering again when he turned back to her. "If anyone is attempting to rig this examination, it is not me. I asked Professor Dumbledore to prepare this test, and I had not kept him apprised of the details of exactly which potions we had covered. 

"I set that problem for you on the first day, because that particular potion blew up in my face during my Potions OWL examination. It seems that Professor Dumbledore remembered the incident, and I would appreciate it if you did not tell anyone else. You are wasting time Summers." 

"Yes sir." Dawn took everything she'd need for the first procedure back to her bench and went to work. 

* * *

Dawn set the final flask, with the final potion on Snape's desk with five minutes to spare. She was thinking she'd done pretty well. She suspected that potion one was a little off, and number three was a disaster, but she was pretty sure that potion two had come out perfectly, and number four hadn't blown up in her face. She was a little surprised that she now understood exactly what Hermione had said about that potion too. She understood the effects of each step, and why they all cancelled each other out. 

"So how'd I do?" she asked. 

Snape looked up from the third flask of her potions that he had been examining. "How do you think you did?" 

"I'd say about 66% but I don't know how that translates into grades." 

"That, Summers, would translate into an 'Acceptable.' Congratulations. You passed. You may now join my sixth year Potions class." 

"Despite everyone else in it having scored an 'Outstanding.'" 

"Everyone else had five years to master what you have done in two weeks. By any rational evaluation, that counts as 'Outstanding.' I expect to see you again at the start of term. Good day." With that Snape turned and swept away into his office. 

* * *

Dawn gave everyone the news about her Potions test over lunch. She wasn't sure whether it qualified as good news though. "With everyone else in the class having scored 'Outstanding' I'm probably going to have to work twice as hard just to keep up." 

"Yeah, but that's still half as hard as you've been working for the last two weeks," said Harry. "It should be a snap." 

Dawn didn't have afternoon classes that day. Instead she and Buffy had a meeting with Professor Dumbledore to discuss what was going to happen next. Harry had told them the password to get past the gargoyle so they soon found themselves back in his office. 

Professor McGonagall was there too. "Miss Summers, I have to tell you that all of your teachers have been most impressed with how hard you have worked over the past two weeks, and with how much progress you have made. It is a rare pleasure to have a student with such diligence, and talent." 

"Thank you, Professor," said Dawn. 

"I, and your other teachers have evaluated your work, and we feel that you will be able to join in fourth year classes, in most subjects," said McGonagall. "Specifically, fourth year Transfiguration, Charms, Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology." 

"Fourth year, that's like fourteen year olds, right?" asked Dawn. 

"That is correct, Miss Summers, and I must warn you that for the most part they will be fourteen year olds who are still considerably more advanced in their educations than you currently are. You may find yourself having to put up with some ridicule at first. I expect that will not last long however. You will be surpassing most of your classmates by Christmas." 

"I guess I can put up with a little ridicule," said Dawn. 

"You will also be able to join sixth year classes in Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Muggle Studies, and Arithmancy." said McGonagall. "Your classmates in those subjects will only be a year younger than yourself, but again they will, for the most part, be starting out with a considerable advantage over you." 

"I haven't taken any Muggle Studies classes," said Dawn. "I didn't even get evaluated in Muggle Studies." 

"Yes, but you have been living among them, and studying them your entire life," said Professor Dumbledore. 

"So why should I take Muggle Studies?" asked Dawn. 

Dumbledore smiled. "I expect it to teach you about wizards. Seeing how we look at Muggles teaches much more about us, than it teaches about them." 

"If you wish to enroll in other courses, Divination, Astronomy or Ancient Runes," said McGonagall. "You would have to enter at a third year level, but you would also be entering Divination and Ancient Runes on an even footing with the other students, since those subjects are not taught earlier." 

"What do they teach in Ancient Runes?" asked Dawn. "Because I'm really good with languages. I can read Latin, and Ancient Greek. My Sumarian needs a bit of work, and I'm starting in on Egyptian Hieroglyphics. Giles was going to introduce me to a friend at the British Museum who could help me with that, but that kinda got sidetracked after we met Harry." 

McGonagall and Dumbledore exchanged a surprised look. "Given your background, I shouldn't find that surprising," said Dumbledore. "Perhaps, when you return, you could audit a couple of sixth year Runes classes with Miss Granger. Find out how they appeal to you. But we are getting ahead of ourselves. We still haven't heard your decision. Do you wish to join us in Hogwarts this year?" 

"Yes!" said Dawn. "Right now, I think you'd have to beat me away with a stick to keep my out!" 

"We would never dream of doing such a thing," said Dumbledore. "Now you must decide which classes you are actually going to take. "Muggle Studies, Arithmancy, Divination and Ancient Runes are all elective courses, of which our students usually only take one each year. Miss Granger is the only student currently attending the school who has attempted to take all of them. Astronomy is usually a required subject, but after some consideration we are also making it an elective for you. You will have to pick which courses you would like to take, and inform Professor McGonagall of your choices. Minerva, do you have the list of supplies that Miss Summers will be needing?" 

"Yes Professor." McGonagall withdrew a roll of parchment from a pocket of her robes, and handed it to Dawn. "Here is what you will require." 

Dawn read over the list. It contained a lot of books. The ones she had been using so far had come from the school library, and now she needed to get her own copies…six years worth of Potions and DADA books for one thing. It was going to be quite the pile. She looked at her sister. "I'm going to need you along just to carry all this stuff." 

"That's all I am to you isn't it?" asked Buffy. "Your pack mule." 

"You got it." Dawn read farther down the list. "Wait a minute: 'School Robes'?" 

Professor McGonagall smiled. "We relax the dress code over the summer, but once term starts, all students are required to wear robes to classes. How you dress on your free time is still up to you…within reason." She gave Dawn an appraising look. She was wearing a light mini t-shirt and jeans that left a couple of inches of exposed skin around her waist. "You might wish to acquire some warmer clothes. It gets quite cold here in the winter. Much colder than you would be used to in California. And Professor Snape in particular likes to keep his dungeon…cool." 

"Thank you, Minerva," said Professor Dumbledore. "You may leave us now. There are a couple of other matters that I wish to discuss with Buffy and Dawn." 

Professor McGonagall inclined her head slightly to the headmaster, and Dawn could see that she was curious about just what Professor Dumbledore wanted to speak to them privately about, but she kept her questions to herself, and quickly exited the office. 

"Now, Buffy, you expressed an interest in finding an appropriate room for some of Miss Weasley's physical training." 

"Yes," said Buffy. "It's a big castle. There must be some place in it we could set up a training room for Ginny." 

"Have Harry show you the Room of Requirement," said Dumbledore. "It should satisfy your needs. Was there anything else?" 

"I don't want to impose, but I was wondering if we might be able to have some of the other Slayers spend some time here," said Buffy. "It would certainly be a useful addition to their education." 

Dumbledore considered that for a moment. "I am not sure I'm ready to add 'and Slayer Academy' to the name of the school. Let us take things slowly. See how things turn out with Miss Weasley. Miss Rosenberg may bring her friend when she comes to visit us as well." 

"Okay, sounds good," said Buffy. "Thank you." 

* * *

Harry and Hermione were playing wizard chess in the common room when Professor McGonagall entered it. "There is something we need to discuss, Potter." 

Harry looked up at her. "What is it Professor?" 

"I don't know if it has ocurred to you yet, but you are now the senior member of our Quidditch team." 

"What?" asked Harry. 

"Johnson, Bell and Spinnet all graduated last year, and while they didn't exactly graduate, Fred and George are both gone too. You are now the senior member of the team, and our new team Captain." 

"Congratulations Harry!" said Hermione. 

"Thanks!" Harry was looking a little stunned. "But I don't know how to Captain!" 

"Of course you do!" said McGonagall. "You, Potter are a natural leader, and you have seen how Wood and Johnson led the team. I expect you to do at least as well. Now we do have a bit of a problem, with three vacancies to fill for the team Chasers." 

"Two," said Harry absently. "Ginny's going to be one of them." 

McGonagall frowned. "One thing you must learn as the team Captain Potter, is not to show favouritism to your friends. Miss Weasley performed admirably as our Seeker last year, but that does not automatically give her a Chaser spot on the team. The good of the team comes before any individual player. She will have to try out with the rest. I have little doubt however that one of the positions will go to her. 

"We need to build more depth in our team as well. We need to have a cadre of reserve players in all positions who are ready to come in and take over if anyone is injured, or unable to play for any other reason. You don't want to have to scramble for replacements the way Johnson did last year." 

"Okay, Professor. Tryouts for reserves in all positions, as well as three new Chasers." 

"Very well, Potter." McGonagall turned and left the common room. Harry turned his attention back to the chess board, and after a little thought, he resigned. Hermione had him beat this time. 

Buffy and Dawn had passed McGonagall as she was leaving. "Hi Harry," said Buffy. "Professor Dumbledore suggested that you show us the Room of Requirement. He thinks it would be a good place for us to set up a training room for Ginny." 

"Yeah, that would work out." Harry got up out of his seat. "It's on this floor, opposite side of the castle." He headed for the door. "Come on, I'll show you." 

Harry led them all down the corridor, Hermione had come along too, and they stopped at the far end, past the last staircase. Buffy looked for a moment at a tapestry of some trolls in tutus beating on a wizard, named Barnabus the Barmy according to the title. "Is this another one of those doors behind a painting deals?" 

"Nope, it's on the other side of the hall," said Harry. 

Buffy turned and looked at a stretch of blank wall between a large vase and a window. "Okay, its a hidden door. Is there a password, or a secret knock or something?" 

"Better than that," said Harry. "Walk back and forth, between the vase and the window a few times, thinking about what sort of training room you want. Really try to concentrate on exactly what you need." 

Buffy gave him a dubious look, but did as she was told. She paced back and forth, thinking about the things she wanted for Ginny's training room. On her third pass a polished wooden door appeared. 

"Whoa!" said Dawn. 

"You haven't seen the best part yet," said Harry. "Go ahead. Open it." 

Buffy grasped the brass handle and pulled the door open. She stepped through…and found herself in a room she knew very well. 

Dawn had stepped through right after her. "Wow! Talk about deja-vu all over again!" 

Buffy looked back at Harry and Hermione, who had followed them into the room and were looking around curiously. "How did you do that?" 

"I take it this is some place you've been before," said Harry. 

"This is _my_ training room!" said Buffy. She looked around. Everything was nearly exactly the way she remembered it from her room in the back of the Magic Box. The brick walls, the green naugahyde sofa with a stack of floor mats beside it. Her pommel horse and punching bag. The dummy Xander had made. The racks of weapons on the walls. "Before it got blown up anyway. How'd you do that?" 

"Not me," said Harry. "You were thinking about this room when you were walking back and forth weren't you?" 

"Yeah. It was my favourite place, of all the places I've ever trained." 

"That's what the Room of Requirement does," said Harry. "It becomes the room you need, when you need it. If you'd been thinking that you really needed to pee while you were walking back and forth, we might be in a room full of chamber pots right now…at least that's what happened to Professor Dumbledore a couple of years ago." 

"So this room just goes away when we leave?" asked Dawn. 

"Don't know what happens to it," said Hermione. "You can leave stuff in here, and it will still be here when you come back, even if someone else has called up some different room between your visits. You can take stuff out, too. Now that you've created this room, any of us here can recall it, and you can make modifications too, if there's something special you need for just one session, you just have to think about that item when you're calling up the room." 

"You'd think this would be a pretty popular spot," said Dawn, "Students coming up here all the time." 

"Most students don't know about it," said Harry. "Only about twenty or so, and most of them just think it's one of the usual hidden rooms. They don't know it can change. I found out about it from Dobby last year. The House Elves all know about it. They call it the Come and Go Room." 


	19. Scrubbing Bubbles

With their afternoon free, Harry asked Dawn if she wanted to go flying again. She quickly accepted the invitation, so she, Hermione and Harry went down to the Quidditch pitch together. Buffy had begged off, saying that she had other things she needed to get done before they left tomorrow. 

Harry and Hermione showed Dawn how to control her broom with just her legs, so she could fly with her hands free. At first she was very reluctant to let go of her broom but Harry demonstrated how hard it was to actually fall off one by doing a couple of rolls without holding on with his hands at all. There was a binding charm on the broom which kept the rider firmly attached to it. It took quite a knock to separate someone from their broom entirely. It didn't take long until Dawn was flying hands free, almost as well as she could with her hands on the broom. Then Harry produced a Quaffle. 

It looked kind of like a basketball to Dawn, only it was made of leather. They flew around the pitch, tossing it back and forth between each other. Dawn found that it was very easy to catch, and to throw. There were charms on it that made it stick to your hands when you caught, or were carrying it, but it released instantly when you threw. It wasn't affected by gravity much, so it tended to go in a straight line, but Harry was able to make it curve by putting a lot of spin on it when he threw. 

They moved on to play a little two on one. They took turns playing Keeper while the other two would try to score. Dawn and Hermione almost never scored a goal against Harry, and they almost never managed to keep Harry from scoring when they were Keeping. Fortunately when he was on the offensive he usually let Dawn or Hermione take the shot, only doing it often enough himself to keep the Keeper on her toes, and not ignoring what he was doing. 

Dawn was left with a new appreciation for just how tough a game Quidditch must be. Hermione was a lot better than her at it, and Harry was off in another league altogether. She also knew that it would be a lot more difficult with another team trying knock her off her broom, and firing Bludgers at her head. 

* * *

When they returned to Gryffindor tower Dawn was an entirely different sort of tired from what she had been feeling for the last two weeks. She was hot and sweaty and physically exhausted. Dawn wanted a bath, and as soon as she was up in her dorm room she started toward the bathroom while peeling out of her t-shirt. 

"Just a minute," said Hermione. 

"What?" asked Dawn. 

"If you want a _real_ treat, grab some fresh clothes, and I'll show you the Prefect's Bathroom." 

"It's better than the tubs we have here?" asked Dawn. She found that hard to imagine. Their bathroom had the best bathtubs Dawn had ever experienced. Big and deep enough to totally immerse yourself, and with a comfortable reclined back, and a padded headrest. The water in them was always just the right temperature, and no matter how dirty you were when you started it stayed crystal clear, except for the bubbles if you added the bubble bath. 

"Wait till you see it." Hermione had pulled clean clothes for herself from her drawers. "Come on." She grabbed her hair brush too. 

Dawn pulled her t-shirt back on, and gathered her own change of clothes, comb and brush. "What about towels?" she asked. 

"Already there," said Hermione. She started down the stairs. "Come on." 

Hermione took Dawn down to the fourth floor, to a door to the right of a statue of a lost looking wizard who had his gloves on the wrong hands. She placed her hand on the doorknob and said "Scrubbing bubbles." The door opened for her. 

There was a small antechamber inside the door, with a second door that opened into a large room. Everywhere Dawn looked was light aquamarine marble, except the ceiling, which was sky blue with fluffy white clouds drifting across it. There was a depression in the floor about the size of a suburban back yard swimming pool. It even had a diving board, and was ringed by gold taps with different coloured jewels in the handles. Hermione bent down by a tap with a clear, colourless jewel—Dawn thought she wouldn't be surprised if it was a diamond—and turned it. Hot water started to flow into the pool. 

"Oh my god!" said Dawn. 

"Neat, huh?" asked Hermione. She put her clean clothes onto a shelf by the wall and started to pull off her what she was wearing, and just drop it onto the floor. 

Dawn only hesitated for a moment. She and Hermione had seen each other naked lots by now, and she had never gotten any sort of indication that Hermione was the least bit interested in her. She had seen the way Willow and Kennedy sometimes looked at her like they were checking her out—not that either of them had ever done more than look—and she had never noticed anything like that from Hermione. The months sharing a bedroom with a bunch of Potentials had also convinced Dawn that she was pretty heterosexual herself. She took another look at the rapidly filling pool as she peeled out of her clothes. It was plenty big enough for _all_ of the Potentials to have shared it, without anyone being forced to be any friendlier with anyone than they wanted to be. 

The pool was already half full when they finished getting undressed. They walked down the steps at the shallow end, into knee deep water. Dawn looked at some of the other taps. "What do these do?" she asked. 

"Give them a try," said Hermione. 

Dawn turned a tap with a ruby in the handle, and pink, lightly rose scented bubbles erupted from it. She turned if off quickly, and moved around to the next one. Each tap she tried let out a different sort of bubbles. One tap sent out a stream of huge bubbles that floated in the air around the room. Another dispensed a thick liquid gel, that quickly foamed into rafts that floated on top of the water. A third tap sent forth a stream of what looked like clear water, but when it hit the water in the pool, it started to fizz. Dawn felt millions of tiny bubbles making every square inch of her skin tingle. 

"Scrubbing bubbles," said Hermione. "You just have to lay back and enjoy it. They do all the work." The pool was almost full now, and she went to the tap that had produced the gel. She let some of it gush out into her hand and quickly rubbed it onto her arms and legs. She put an extra thick layer around her neck. It foamed up into a collar and she lay back into the water, letting herself float, supported by the foam, the extra thick layer around her neck keeping her face out of the water. 

Dawn emulated Hermione, rubbing the gel over herself, and lay back to float, letting the bubbles tingle over her skin. She lay there thinking about the last two weeks, what she would do, what courses she would be taking…what it would be like to have Harry in this pool with her… She felt herself dozing off. 

"There you are!" said a high pitched voice with a distinct whine in it. 

Dawn opened her eyes and saw a ghost floating over the pool. It looked like a rather dumpy girl, with thick glasses and a pimply face. 

"You looking for us, Myrtle?" asked Hermione. 

"Everyone is," said Myrtle. "No one knows where you got to." 

"Why are they looking?" asked Dawn. 

"You are invited to dinner in the Great Hall tonight, since you're going back to London in the morning." 

"Oh!" said Hermione. "How long do we have?" 

"Fifteen minutes," said Myrtle. 

"Okay, you can go tell everyone you found us, and passed on the message," said Hermione. "Goodbye Myrtle." 

"Fine!" said Myrtle. "No one wants me around!" She started to cry. 

"Oh, hey, don't cry!" said Dawn. "I'm sure that you're a very nice ghost!" 

"You think so?" asked Myrtle. 

"Sure!" said Dawn. 

"You'll come visit me?" 

Dawn was about to say that she would, when she saw Hermione shaking her head at her. "Um…I'll try," she said. "Not sure if I'll be able to." Myrtle burst into tears again. 

"Myrtle, you have to go tell everyone you found us, and that we will be along to dinner presently," said Hermione. "Could you do that for us please?" 

Myrtle sniffed back tears. "Oh, alright. Nobody wants me around." She disappeared into the water tap. 

"What was that about?" asked Dawn. 

"Moaning Myrtle," said Hermione. "She normally haunts the second floor girl's bathroom." 

"That's the one you warned me to stay away from?" 

"Yep, and she's the reason. She cries all the time, over the slightest thing. She's always moaning or complaining about something. Now we have a dinner to go to." 

Hermione used her hands to brush the foam away from her skin. She ducked her head under the water. Dawn did the same, and felt the bubbles in the water tingling against her scalp. She shook her head, making her hair spread out around her. She ran her fingers through it when she surfaced again. Her hair was tangle free, and felt completely clean. 

Hermione was already climbing the steps out of the pool. Dawn followed her out and over to a shelf full of fluffy towels. They toweled themselves dry and Hermione showed Dawn where to stand to make a jet of hot air blow over her hair, drying it too while she combed and brushed it. 

Hermione told Dawn to just leave her dirty clothes on the floor where they were when they had finished getting dressed. She grimaced a bit. "The House Elves will take care of them. Have them back, clean, and in your drawers in the morning." 

"I noticed in my instructions that all my clothes should have my name in them," said Dawn. "Is that why, so the elves can keep track?" 

"Yep," said Hermione. "With just you and Buffy here, they can keep track easily enough without the labels, but once term starts, they're going to be doing laundry for a few hundred kids." 


	20. Back to London

The trip back to London the next day was uneventful. Professor Snape had sent a note to Dawn before she left, giving her a long list of reading assignments and essays that he expected her to have done before she returned to school in a week's time, so she had spent most of the train ride with her nose in a Potions book borrowed from the school library. 

They arrived on platform nine and three quarters in the late afternoon, and went to the baggage car to collect their luggage. Dawn only had one suitcase this time, she had left a lot of her stuff back at the school. 

Dawn noticed a very odd couple of people coming toward them. She immediately recognised one of them from the way he was limping. His long cloak swayed aside a bit and she saw that he had a wooden leg. It took her a moment longer to identify the other one. "Ah, the limping man and the green haired lady." The lady's hair was bright red now. 

The red haired woman looked at the limping man. "I told you she spotted us." She waved at Harry. "Wotcher Harry!" 

"Yeah," said Dawn. "He followed us from the hotel, and you watched us in the park the day we didn't go to the movies. What's up?" 

"I'd like to introduce you to Mad-Eye Moody, and Nymphadora Tonks," said Harry. 

The woman with the red hair smiled and held out her hand. "Just call me Tonks." 

Dawn shook her hand. "Hi, I'm Dawn, and this is my sister Buffy, and Mr. Giles." 

"Pleased to meetcha!" said Tonks. 

"Bouncing ferret Moody?" asked Buffy. 

"No, that was the fake Mad-Eye Moody," said Harry. "This is the real one." 

"Are you sure?" growled Moody. He pushed back his cap, and Dawn saw both his eyes for the first time. One was small, dark and beady, but the other was large, round and electric blue. His face looked like something had taken a bite out of it at some time. Maybe more than one time. The blue eye kept moving, left, right, up and down. It settled on Buffy's Scythe case for a moment, and Dawn was sure he could see what was in it. Sometimes it rotated all the way around, and Dawn had the distinct impression he could see out the back of his head. "I could be another Death Eater using Polyjuice Potion." 

Dawn drew her wand and pointed it at Moody. "_Metamorphosis deleo!_" Nothing happened. "Not Polyjuice." She looked at Buffy. "Snape had me do an essay on Polyjuice, that should have cancelled the effects of it." 

"Smart girl," said Moody. 

"So why were you following us around?" asked Dawn. 

"I'm not allowed to wander around London on my own," said Harry. "Moody is paranoid, won't let me go anywhere without an escort. He's afraid Moldywart is going to try and kill me again." 

"Hey, just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get you," said Buffy. 

Both of Moody's eyes settled on Buffy for a moment. "I could grow to like you." 

They all started toward the iron archway that led out of platform nine and three quarters. The ticket inspector by the exit indicated they should wait for a moment. "So Harry, you haven't told me," said Dawn. "Where are you staying while we're in London?" 

Harry looked embarrassed. "Well, er, I can't really tell you." 

Dawn tried to hide her disappointment. "Well, I guess that's okay." 

"It isn't that he doesn't want to tell you," said Hermione quickly. "It's just that we…can't." 

"No, that's fine," said Dawn. 

"I mean 'can't' can't," said Hermione. "It's protected by a Fidelius Charm. There's only one person who can tell you where we're going." 

"Oh," said Dawn. "Fidelius…that's the one with the Secret Keeper, right?" 

"Yeah," said Harry. "Only the Secret Keeper can tell you…and we can't say who the Secret Keeper is either. Next time I see them though, I'll ask them to include you, since I own the place now." 

"What?" asked Hermione. 

"Didn't I tell you?" asked Harry. "I now own it. Lock, stock and Kreacher." 

"Creature?" asked Buffy. 

"Kreacher?" asked Hermione. 

"Yeah, Kreacher," said Harry. "Still trying to figure out what to do with him." 

"You have to set him free!" said Hermione. 

"Yeah, but what happens to him then?" asked Harry. "No one would hire him. I thought maybe I might send him to the Dursleys—he could stay in the cupboard under the stairs—but I decided that was too cruel…to them, and to him." 

"Um, who's Kreacher?" asked Dawn. 

"A House Elf," said Harry, "and one of the most vile creatures it has ever been my misfortune to meet…and I now own him, and I feel sorry for him." 

"Oh," said Dawn. "A Gollum." 

"A what?" asked most of the wizards. Hermione seemed to be the only one to recognise the reference. 

"Gollum, in _Lord of the Rings_," said Dawn. Everyone still looked blank. "It's a Muggle book. Gollum is this vile creature that the hero took pity on and spared, when he had lots of reasons to kill him, and in the end, Gollum helped save the world, in spite of himself." 

"So, you're saying that Kreacher might save us?" asked Harry. 

"Or he could try to feed you to a giant spider," said Dawn. "It could go either way. It's only a book. I'm just saying you feel about Kreacher the way Frodo felt about Gollum. Whether or not it'll work out as well for you is anyone's guess." 

"Already done the giant spider thing," said Harry. "Don't want to repeat it. So, are you guys staying at the Cauldron?" 

"I suggested that we stay there, but I was overruled," said Giles. "We're going back to Twiddlings Hotel." 

"Why?" 

"I want to stay someplace with a TV," said Dawn. "It may be months before I get another chance." 

The ticket inspector started waving them through the arch, in groups of two and three. Moody and Tonks went first, no doubt to make sure there was no one waiting on the far side to kill Harry. Harry and Hermione followed them, and Buffy, Dawn and Giles brought up the rear. 

They all chatted as they moved toward the exit. Dawn told Harry and Hermione that she'd be going to Diagon Alley with Buffy on Wednesday morning, to meet with Ginny and do her own shopping for school supplies. They made a date to all meet there. 

Buffy never knew what tipped her off, but she caught a flash of motion in the corner of her eye. "_DOWN!_" 

Dawn and Giles dropped to the floor instantly. Moody and Tonks had their wands out, and spun, looking for the threat. Harry and Hermione just looked startled, so Buffy used a leg sweep to knock their feet out from underneath them, just before a bolt of green fire slashed through the air where Harry's head had been. Moody and Tonks both sent red blasts back in the direction that the green one had come from. 

Buffy was back on her feet with the Scythe in her hand, her eyes sweeping the startled crowd, looking for the source of the attack. She didn't see anything but surprised looking commuters, all looking around, trying to figure out what had just happened. She turned, sweeping her eyes all around the station, in case there might be another attacker waiting in reserve, to make his move from the opposite direction if the first attack had failed. 

Tonks was moved with surprising speed, running through the crowd toward the source of the first shot, while Moody stayed behind with the others. His eyes were sweeping in all directions too, looking for more threats. His blue eye was spinning around in its socket. Harry and Hermione were now up on their knees, with their wands out and held ready, as was Dawn. Giles was on his feet too. He, Buffy and Moody forming a triangle around the younger three, keeping watch in all directions. 

Buffy saw Tonks stop and bend over what looked like a businessman lying on the station floor. She pointed toward him with her wand. Buffy didn't hear what she said, but the man suddenly sat up, and shook his head. Tonks helped him get back to his feet. She raised her wand over her head. "_Obliviate!_" There was a flash of light. 

The commuters who had been staring at them, and the others who had been looking around, wondering what was happening, all blinked, and then they all started moving away, going back to their evening routine as if nothing had happened. 

"Cool!" said Dawn. "It's like a neuralizer!" 

Tonks hurried back toward the group. "Whoever it was disapparated right after taking their shot. We stunned the Muggle who was standing behind him." Her eyes were sweeping the station too. "Let's get out of here, before someone else shows up." 

They gathered up their dropped luggage. Hedwig and Crookshanks were both quite upset with the way they were being handled. Buffy had Dawn take her suitcase, and handed the Scythe's case to Hermione. She wanted to have her hands free, and at the moment she didn't care how much attention the Scythe drew from bystanders. They started to move in a tight group toward the exit, keeping the kids in the center. 

Buffy stiffened when she saw several more people coming toward them, but she relaxed a bit when she recognised one of them as Mr. Weasley. Tonks and Moody both seemed to recognise the others too. Buffy decided that these guys must be the cavalry, arriving a little late. 

The new arrivals didn't waste time asking any questions. They formed a second cordon around the group, and Mr. Weasley led them all out of the station, toward a car that was parked in a No Parking zone. A cop nearby seemed to be completely ignoring it. 

Mr. Weasley opened the back door and starting waving people into the car. Harry got pushed in first, followed by Hermione and Dawn. Giles, Moody and Tonks followed. Buffy was thinking that it must be getting awfully crowded inside, but Mr. Weasley waved for her to enter it too. She followed the others. 

There was still lots of room inside the car. Mr. Weasley followed Buffy, and they both took seats as the car pulled away from the curb. 

"Neat, huh?" Dawn asked Buffy. "It's like the TARDIS… And I have _got_ to spend less time with Andrew." 

"What happened?" asked Mr. Weasley. "Anyone hurt?" 

Harry rubbed the back of his head, and winced. "A bit of a bump, I think, but I'm fine." 

"Sorry about that," said Buffy. 

"Hey, considering what would have happened to my head if you _hadn't_ kicked my feet out from under me… If you ever feel the need to do it again, go ahead." 

"What happened?" asked Mr. Weasley again. 

"Death Eater took a pot shot at Harry," said Moody. "Would have got him too, if not for Miss Summers here." 

"Who was it?" 

"Didn't get a good look at him," said Moody. 

He looked at Tonks and she shook her head. "I didn't really see him either." She looked at Buffy. "What did he look like?" 

"I have no idea," said Buffy. "I caught a flash of movement in the corner of my eye, and all of my alarms went off. Never really saw anything." She looked at the passing buildings. "Where are we going?" 

"Someplace safe," said Mr. Weasley. 

"Let me guess: you can't say, because of that Secret Keeper thing." 

"Correct, Miss Summers," said Mr. Weasley, "but there should be someone waiting for us who can correct that." 

"Call me Buffy. There are too many Miss Summerses in the car." 


	21. Number Twelve Grimmauld Place

They pulled to a stop a couple of minutes later, and everyone got out of the car again. Buffy looked around. They were in a bit of a run down residential neighbourhood. A nearby street sign told her that they were on Grimmauld Place. There was an elderly gentleman waiting for them. It took a couple of looks for Buffy to recognise Professor Dumbledore. His beard and his hair were both a lot shorter than she was used to seeing them—he looked rather like Edmund Gwenn's Kris Kringle from _Miracle on 34th Street_—and he was dressed in a fairly conservative looking business suit. "Why am I not entirely surprised to see you here?" she asked. 

"Because you are an intelligent young woman," said Dumbledore. "Though, I must admit I wasn't expecting to see you again so soon." 

"So, you're the Secret Keeper?" 

"That is correct Miss Summers. Listen very carefully, and remember this, you too Dawn, and Mr. Giles: the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London." 

A battered door with a twelve on it appeared between the two houses they were standing in front of. The houses slid apart as number twelve seemed to inflate between them. It was a dirty looking house, with grimy windows, even more run down than its neighbours. Dumbledore gestured toward it. "Shall we go inside?" 

Harry led the way up to the door. He opened it, and gestured for everyone to go ahead inside. "Welcome to my house." 

"Your house?" asked Dawn as she passed him. 

Harry waited for the others to all get inside before he followed, and closed the door. "Afraid so. I just inherited it. It used to be Sirius's house." 

Harry looked around the entry hall. There had been some changes made from last year. The curtains covering the portrait of Sirius's mother had been replaced by a set of sturdy wooden shutters with a lock on them, and the House Elf heads that had lined the stairway wall were gone. 

Ron and Ginny came running down the stairs. "Harry!" she cried. "We heard you were attacked! What happened?" 

"Death Eater at the train station," said Harry. "Buffy saved me." 

The wooden shutters started to rattle. A muffled voice shrieked from behind them. "_Filthy scum mudbloods! I can hear them! More of them tramping their filth over the house of my fathers! Get out! Get out! GET OUT!_" 

Harry looked embarrassed. "Uh, just try to ignore that," he told Dawn. "It's the portrait of Sirius's mother. She hated Muggles. It's stuck to the wall with a Permanent Sticking Charm. We haven't been able to figure out how to get rid of it." 

Mrs. Weasley appeared through a door at the back of the hall. "Harry! Are you all right? What happened?" 

"I'm fine, Mrs. Weasley," said Harry. 

"Let us all go up to the drawing room," said Dumbledore. He was back in his colourful robes, and his beard and hair were their usual lengths again. "Where there's room for everyone to hear the story at once, so Harry won't have to keep repeating himself." 

Everyone left the luggage they were carrying in the front hall and Harry led the way up the stairs and into the drawing room. They all found themselves a seat, and Harry told what had happened in the train station. 

"And you're sure you're not hurt?" asked Mrs. Weasley when he was done. 

"I'm fine!" said Harry. "Gotten lots worse bumps on my head playing Quidditch." 

"Oh!" Mrs. Weasley was instantly on her feet again, and fussing over Harry, examining the back of his head. 

"No, really, I'm fine!" said Harry as her fingers parted his hair to examine his scalp. He tried to push her hands away. 

"Um, I kinda don't like mentioning this, but everyone seems pretty certain that it was a Death Eater that tried to kill Harry," said Buffy. 

"Who else would?" asked Mr. Weasley. 

"I don't know," said Buffy, "and from the sounds of things, a Death Eater is probably your best bet, but just because someone's out to get you, doesn't mean they're the _only_ ones who are out to get you." 

"I really like the way you think," said Moody. 

"Why would anyone else want to hurt Harry?" asked Hermione. 

"Lot's of reasons," said Buffy. "Harry's famous, right? And famous people tend to attract the wackos, they certainly do among Muggles. Or maybe Voldemort…" Half the people in the room cringed. "…isn't the only dark wizard out there. Someone else might be trying to make an instant reputation for themselves by killing the boy Voldemort couldn't. It could be a fan of one of the other house's Quidditch teams, trying to improve the chances of his team winning this year. There are lots of reasons why people kill, most of them are stupid, but people still do it." 

"Great," said Harry. "Not only do I have Death Eaters out to get me, but now I gotta watch out for random wackos." 

"It's still probably one of the Death Eaters," said Buffy. "I'm just saying you shouldn't blind yourselves to other possibilities." 

"Who knew that Harry would be arriving at the station today?" asked Giles. 

"Too many people," said Moody. "Everyone at the school for one thing." Dumbledore started to say something but Moody waved his objection down. "I'm not saying there's a spy there, but we don't know who they may have told. No one was told _not_ to talk about it. Someone may have mentioned it to a friend or something, someplace where they could be overheard. We have to improve security, not let Harry wander around, and not announce where he's going to be when he does go out." 

"You should check out that guy at the barrier too," said Buffy. "He might have deliberately delayed us until their hitter was in position." 

"More great," grumbled Harry. "I'm going to be locked up inside this house again." 

"It's only for a week, until you go back to school," said Hermione. 

"They wouldn't try anything in Diagon Alley," said Harry. "I should be able to go there. I've still got to do my school shopping." 

"Too many people know you'll be doing it," said Moody. 

"But they all think I'm going on Wednesday," said Harry. "That's what we've been telling everyone. I can do it on Tuesday." 

Most of the adults joined into the discussion. Moody didn't want to let Harry out at all, and Mrs. Weasley came in on his side. Tonks sided with Harry, thinking it would be safe enough to let him out with an escort, as long as they kept quiet about it, like they'd been doing earlier in the summer. Mr. Weasley was caught in the middle. He tended to side with Tonks and Harry, but didn't want to disagree with his wife. 

Hermione turned to Ron after listening to the adults argue for a while. "So, did Harry tell you he's been made Captain of the Quidditch team?" 

"He has?" asked Ron. "That's great!" 

"Yeah, so we're going to be holding tryouts for three new Chasers, and I'm sure Ginny will get one of the spots, and McGonagall wants to have reserves for all the other places on the team too." 

"Afraid I'll choke up again?" grumbled Ron. 

"No!" said Hermione. "You were great that last game! Everyone knows it, but we need to have reserves in place and ready in case someone can't play for some reason. Harry's been taken out of play twice so far. First time it happened we lost the cup because we didn't have a good Seeker ready to take his place. We were lucky we had Ginny last year." 

The security discussion had wound down without any decision being reached. Mrs Weasley got up from her seat. "Now it's dinner time. Buffy, Dawn, Mr. Giles, won't you join us?" 

* * *

The kitchen had been cleaned up since last year too. It wasn't the dim cavern it had once seemed to be. It was brightly lit by many candles in holders spaced around the stone walls. The many years of accumulated soot had been scrubbed away, and instead of black and grey, the walls were now sparkling pink granite. It was a very cheerful looking room with a big table in the center at which there were seven place settings. Mrs. Weasley waved her wand toward the cupboard, and four more settings, for Buffy, Dawn, Giles and Dumbledore flew to the table. 

The meal was excellent, and Mrs. Weasley didn't let anyone talk about Harry's security arrangements. Dawn found herself sitting between Ron and Harry, with them talking Quidditch around her. She was starting to understand the game enough that their conversation wasn't totally incomprehensible to her, and they were both happy to explain the bits she didn't understand to her. Mr. Weasley started questioning Giles about Muggle technology, which Buffy found rather amusing since Giles was such a technophobe himself. She found herself talking mostly with Hermione and Ginny. 

"So, that guitar case you were carrying," said Ginny, "That's where it is, isn't it?" 

"Yep," said Buffy. 

"Can I…try it?" asked Ginny. 

"Sure," said Buffy. "After dinner." She looked around the table. "Um, does everyone here know?" 

"Yeah," said Ginny. "Tonks and Moody are the only others we've told though, outside the family. She was actually eavesdropping when Dawn told us about it. She got her hands on one of Fred and George's Extendable Ears." 

"Extendable Ears?" asked Buffy. 

"It's kind of a magical bug," said Hermione. "For listening in on conversations people don't want you listening too." 

* * *

Buffy and Ginny had an audience later in the drawing room. Everyone wanted to see the Scythe. Buffy had Ginny sit in a chair, and she placed the case into her lap. "There are spells on this case that keep anyone from opening it, who isn't supposed to open it." She knelt before Ginny and took her hands in her own. She guided them to the catches, and released them. Still holding Ginny's hands, Buffy lifted the lid of the case. 

Ginny looked at the Scythe sitting nestled in its case, a silent "Oh!" on her lips. Buffy smiled and lifted the Scythe free. She held it out to Ginny, and Ginny took it in her hands. 

"There." Buffy released the Scythe, and stood up. "You are now one of the people who are supposed to be able to open the case." 

Ginny carefully turned the Scythe in her hands, looking at it from all angles. She suddenly spun it, almost too fast for the eye to follow, making the blade sing through the air. "This feels like…" 

"Like you were born to use it," said Buffy. "We all feel that when we hold it." 

"But it's yours." Ginny held the Scythe out to Buffy, to let her take it again. 

"I'm only its current caretaker." Buffy took the Scythe and returned it to its case. "Someday, you will be." 

They didn't stay at the house very much longer. Harry invited them to stay, there was lots of room. "Thanks for the offer," said Buffy, "But we've been out of the loop long enough. There are a lot of people I have to talk to, and I'm going to need phones to do it." 

They went back down to the front hall and gathered up all their stuff. Buffy smiled at Ginny. "See you again soon, when we go do our shopping. Let us know what day you settle on." 

Dawn kissed Harry goodbye. "Hope you can make the shopping trip, if not, I'll see you when we go back to school." 

"I will definitely try to make the shopping trip," said Harry. "Bye." 

Mr. Weasley left with Buffy, Dawn and Giles. The same car that had brought them from King's Cross Station was taking them back to their hotel, and he was accompanying them because there was still more Muggle technology he wanted to quiz them about. 

Harry stood in the door watching as they all got into the car, and waved as it drove away. He stepped back inside, and turned to look at the others. 

Ron's mouth had been hanging open ever since Dawn had kissed Harry. "Cor blimey!" 

"Oh grow up, Ron!" said Hermione. 

Harry gave Ron a look like he agreed with Hermione, but he had something else on his mind right now. "Where's Kreacher?" 

Kreacher was in the boiler cupboard off the kitchen where he made his bed. Ron and Hermione followed Harry down to it. He knocked on the door first, but when he didn't get an answer he pulled it open anyway. Kreacher was lying huddled in the pile of rags he used for his bed. The quilt Hermione had given him for Christmas last year had been added to it, and was now as filthy as the rest of it. He seemed to be muttering things to himself. 

"Kreacher, come out here!" said Harry. 

Kreacher looked up at him. "It's the Harry Potter. Boy who stopped the Dark Lord. But the Dark Lord wasn't stopped. He's back and now the Harry Potter will pay." 

"Kreacher, you know who I am," said Harry. "You know I'm your master now." 

Kreacher shook his head. "Oh sad day. Mistress would cry so to see what has become of her noble house." 

"Kreacher look at me," said Harry. "Say who I am." 

"You are Harry Potter. You are Kreacher's master." 

"That's right Kreacher," said Harry. "Now follow me." 

"Harry, what are you doing?" asked Hermione. 

"Later," said Harry. "Kreacher, get out of that closet, and follow me!" Harry glared at Kreacher until he started to move, then he turned away, and walked out of the kitchen with only one glance back to see if Kreacher was following. 

Harry led them all up through the house, to the room on the top floor that had once been Sirius's mother's, and more recently had been home to Buckbeak. It certainly looked like a Hippogriff had been living there. The floor was covered with straw, and the walls all had deep gouges in them from the Hippogriff's talons. 

"Kreacher, where are we?" asked Harry. 

"Mistress's room," said Kreacher. "Oh, she would be so angry to see the state it is in." 

"That's right," said Harry. "Your mistress would be very angry. I want it cleaned up." 

"What?" asked Kreacher. 

"You heard me Kreacher," said Harry. "I want this room cleaned up. Clear out the straw, fix the walls, repair the floors." 

"Y-y-yes Master," said Kreacher. 

Harry turned to go. He stopped in the door and looked back. "And Kreacher, that rag you're wearing is a disgrace. Get yourself a proper clean towel or something." 

He left the room, and headed back down the stairs. 

"Alright, what are you doing?" asked Hermione. 

"Giving Kreacher something to do," said Harry. 

"You're treating him like a slave!" said Hermione. 

"I'm treating him like he needs to be treated," said Harry. "How many House Elves have you met that want to be free? _One!_ And it took years of beatings from the Malfoys to get him into that state. Winky spent two years drunk after she got freed. She's only sobered up now because she's keeping busy. She has lots of work to keep her happy. 

"Kreacher spent fifteen years locked up in this house with nothing to do but follow the orders of an insane painting. If we want to start getting him sane again, we've got to give him some constructive work to do." Harry glanced up the way they had come from. "And if this doesn't work, at least he's as far away from the rest of the house as he can get, and still be inside it." 


	22. Shopping

Dawn sat on her bed in their hotel room with her Powerbook in her lap, typing up one of her essays for Professor Snape, while keeping half an eye on the TV. The BBC was showing snooker. Fortunately it didn't require a lot of her attention, so she could write while it was on. 

She was interrupted by a tapping noise at the window. She set aside her computer and went and pulled aside the drapes. She saw the snowy owl sitting on the window ledge. "Hello Hedwig!" She released the catch and pushed open the window to admit the owl. 

Hedwig hopped across the window sill. She had an envelope in her beak that she let Dawn take, and then with a couple of powerful flaps of her wings she flew across the room and took up a roost on top of a lamp. 

"Thank you!" Dawn looked at the envelope and saw it was addressed to Buffy. "Sorry I don't have any treats for you. I'll have to owe you." 

Hedwig hooted. Dawn wasn't sure if the owl was saying she understood, or if she was just hooting. She took the envelope, went to the door that connected to Giles' room, and opened it. 

While Dawn had spent most of the day and a half since leaving Grimmauld Place working on her Potions assignments and watching TV, Buffy had spent it on the phone, touching base with all the other Slayers around the world, making sure that everything was under control and there were no new crises that needed her personal attention. The underworld was still pretty much under. Still reeling from the shock of having over forty Slayers to worry about, instead of just one. Things were pretty calm, even by non-Hellmouth standards. 

Dawn caught Buffy and Giles between calls. He was just writing up her last call in his journal when she came into the room, waving the envelope. 

"What is it?" asked Buffy. 

Dawn handed her the envelope. "Hedwig just brought a letter for you." 

Buffy ripped open the letter. "Still getting used to the idea of Owl Post." She pulled it out and scanned it quickly. "Okay, the shopping trip is on for tomorrow. They can meet us at 10:00 in the Leaky Cauldron. We're supposed to write back to confirm." She looked up at Dawn. "Sorry, they don't say if Harry's coming." 

Dawn tried to hide her disappointment. "That's okay." 

"He still might show," said Buffy. "Not saying could just be part of Moody's security." 

Dawn brightened up a bit. "You think?" 

"Don't get your hopes up too high," said Buffy. "He may be stuck in the house." She got the pad of note paper supplied by the hotel and started to write her reply. "I guess we'll have time to visit the bank first, get some cash. Set up an account for you with Gringotts. From what we've heard, a couple of thousand pounds should be plenty to see you and Ginny though the term. We'll make it three, just to be safe." 

Buffy finished her note, and sealed it in an envelope. "Um, how do I address this?" 

"I think just writing 'Ginny Weasley' should be good enough," said Dawn. "Hedwig will get it to her." 

"Okay." Buffy wrote Ginny's name on the envelope and gave it back to Dawn. "Here you go." 

Dawn took the envelope back to her room and held it out for Hedwig. "Here you go girl. Take this back to Ginny, and give Harry a kiss for me." 

Hedwig hooted, took the envelope in her beak, and flew out the window. 

"I wonder how much she understands me," said Dawn as she sat back down on her bed. She picked up her remote control to see if there was anything more exciting than snooker on TV. 

* * *

Buffy and Dawn arrived in front of the Leaky Cauldron a little before ten o'clock. Dawn glanced at the book store next door. "Oh, there's something I want to get first. Go ahead, I'll catch up with you!" 

"Dawn—" It was too late, Dawn had vanished into the book store. Buffy looked at the blank wall. "I still can't see it," she told herself. 

Buffy took a deep breath. "Okay, we do it the old fashioned way." She walked up to the wall and reached out with her hand. She felt brick. She started to walk along the wall, running her finger tips along it, until the brick under them vanished. She tried and found that she just couldn't get her eyes to point to where she knew her hand was. "This is the place," she told herself. She brought her hand back a little way until she could feel where the edge of the opening was, and stepped toward it. 

The door appeared in the alcove as soon as Buffy was past where the wall should have been. She went up the two steps, and into The Leaky Cauldron. 

Tom didn't glare at her this time. He smiled and nodded off to the side. Buffy looked where he indicated and saw a group of people all sitting around a table. Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Mrs. Weasley and Harry. There was a sixth person there she didn't recognise, but from the colour of his hair she guessed he must be another one of Ginny's brothers. He was rather handsome, with long hair pulled back in a pony tail, and some sort fang in an earring. He was tall and slim, and looked to be in his late twenties. He rose from his seat as she approached the table. 

"Hi!" said Buffy. 

"Hi Buffy!" said Harry. "This is Ginny's oldest brother Bill. He works for Gringotts, we thought he could help you get your account set up." 

Bill held out his hand. "Pleased to meet you." 

"A pleasure," said Buffy. 

"I'm not really involved in accounts," said Bill, "but I can help guide you through it. Make sure you get first rate treatment from the Goblins." 

Harry was looking around. "Er, where's Dawn?" 

"Don't worry, she's coming," said Buffy. "She suddenly decided she needed to get something from the book store next door. She should be here any minute." She looked at Bill. "So, I want to set up an account that will pay Dawn and Ginny an allowance for their pocket money through the term. Can we do something like that?" 

"Ginny won't be needing your money, Miss Summers," said Mrs. Weasley. 

Buffy looked at the way people shifted uncomfortably around the table, and she remembered the Weasley's uncomfortable reaction to her mentioning money before. "I'm sure she doesn't, but I have access to a very large sum of it, which is meant to help Slayers. Part of that has been allocated to a scholarship fund meant to see that each Slayer gets the education she needs. Ginny is entitled to her share of that fund." 

"We are quite capable of paying Ginny's way," said Mrs. Weasley. 

"I certainly never meant to imply anything else." Buffy mentally kicked herself for not seeing this coming. She should have recognised the Weasley's reaction when she first saw it. They were people who were self sufficient, and proud of it, even when they were just scraping by, they weren't going to be taking any handouts from anyone…_Especially_ when they were just scraping by. It was the sort of attitude that had led to her working double shifts at the Doublemeat Palace. This was not an argument she was going to be able to win now, especially in front of an audience. "Okay, so I'll just need Bill's help setting up the account for Dawn." 

"Hi guys!" 

"Speaking of…" Buffy looked around, happy for the interruption. "Hi Dawn! So what did you suddenly have to buy?" 

"Late birthday present for Harry." She handed him the bag in her hand. "Sorry for the lack of wrapping." 

"You shouldn't have," said Harry. 

"I know, but I did anyway." Dawn looked at Bill. "So who's this?" 

"Oh, this is my oldest brother, Bill," said Ginny. "He's going to help Buffy get your bank account set up. Bill, this is Dawn Summers." 

Dawn and Bill shook hands while Harry pulled his present out of the bag: a boxed set of _The Lord of the Rings_. "Thanks," said Harry. "Now I can learn about that Gollum guy." 

"I figured you could use something to keep you entertained while you were shut up in that house," said Dawn. "I'm glad they let you out today." 

"Well, the Alley is crawling with Aurors," said Harry, "Just in case Moldywart tries something, so they figured it would be safe enough." 

"So, I think we better get busy," said Buffy. "We have a lot of shops waiting for us to deplete their stock!" 

* * *

They returned to the Leaky Cauldron a couple of hours later. Dawn was dragging a quite ordinary looking trunk behind her, but if you looked carefully you'd see that the wheels weren't quite in contact with the floor. It also felt no heavier now, with nearly everything they had bought packed into it, than it had felt when it was empty. About the only item Dawn had bought that hadn't gone into her trunk was a cage containing a small screech owl with cinnamon coloured plumage. 

They ate lunch together, and this time Buffy insisted on picking up the tab as a thank you to Mrs. Weasley for all her help in getting Dawn outfitted. They started to plan their assault on the stores they'd have to hit that afternoon to get the things that Ginny and Dawn would need for their training. Buffy had been slowly working Mrs. Weasley all morning and had gotten her to agree to let Buffy pay for all of that too, on the grounds that this was extra Slayer related shopping, above and beyond the normal back to school outfitting. 

Ron and Harry soon slipped off into their own conversation, mostly about Quidditch, when it became clear that the girls were mostly talking about clothes. By the end of lunch Harry wasn't feeling quite so bad that he wouldn't be allowed to go along. His freedom to move around wasn't being extended into Muggle London today, so he and Ron were going back to Grimmauld Place. Mrs. Weasley was reluctantly going with them. She didn't really want to let Ginny go without her, but Buffy, Hermione and Dawn all promised that they'd make sure that no wild Muggles carried her off. 

After lunch Dawn opened her trunk and started pulling stuff out. It wasn't just her shopping that had gone into it. She had nearly everything the others had bought too. She took out piles of books, new robes, potions ingredients and other things that went into four piles on the table for Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione. Dawn's trunk had lots of drawers and compartments in it which had allowed them to keep everyone's things separate. The interior expanded as required, so there was lots of room. It even had a bracket inside the lid into which Dawn's new broom was clamped. 

Hermione's pile was split between Harry, Ron and Mrs. Weasley, who also took Ginny's. "So how are you guys getting home?" asked Dawn. 

"Oh, we're going by Floo," said Mrs. Weasley. 

Buffy looked at Dawn. "Did that make sense to you?" 

"'Fraid not," said Dawn. 

"It's a fast way for wizards to travel," said Hermione. "It's a network of magically connected fireplaces that you can move between almost instantly. We'll show you." 

Everyone grabbed their piles and they all went to the Leaky Cauldron's large fireplace. Since everyone's hands were full Hermione took the bowl of Floo Powder off the mantle, and tossed a pinch into the fireplace. The fire turned green. Mrs. Weasley stepped into the flames. "Twelve Grimmauld Place!" she said, and vanished. Hermione tossed in another pinch, and Ron followed her. 

Harry turned back to Dawn. "Er, nice seeing you again. Wish I could stay longer." 

Dawn smiled at him. "I wish you could too. I'll see you again soon. The train back to school, if not sooner." 

"Yeah, and er, thanks for the present too." 

"You're welcome." 

"Stop yacking and kiss her, you idiot!" said Buffy. 

Harry and Dawn both blushed, but then he did as he was told, to a smattering of applause from around the inn. Buffy's outburst had attracted a little attention. That made them blush more. Hermione let Harry escape through the fire. 

"Okay!" said Buffy. "Now that we got rid of the guys, and the Mom, we can get down to some _real_ shopping!" 

* * *

They started by walking back to Twiddlings Hotel. The hotel concierge tried to raise an objection to them taking Dawn's owl up to their room, but Buffy pointed out the bit in the fine print of the 'no pets' section of the hotel rules that made an exception for birds in cages. They took Dawn's new stuff up to her room and introduced Giles to her owl, who hadn't been named yet. 

They took a taxi from the hotel to a mall where they hit the stores and got Ginny and Dawn outfitted with what Buffy called 'a proper training wardrobe.' It included a couple pairs of top of the line cross-trainer shoes for each of them, sweat suits, sports bras and other such items. From there they went to a martial arts supply store that Giles' friend Robson had recommended to them. 

Robson was one of the few surviving members of the old Watcher's Council. He'd spent a couple of months in the hospital after nearly being killed by the First's Bringers, after they had killed Nora, the Potential Slayer in his care. Robson had declined their offer to take charge of one of the new Slayers, Nora's death was still too painful for him, but he had been a great help in coordinating the reformation of the Watchers. He wasn't one of what Xander called the REMF Watchers, like much of the old Council had been. (Rear Echelon Mother F******, a term Xander remembered from his Halloween soldier experience.) Robson knew the price that the Slayers were being asked to pay. 

Robson was also partially responsible for Buffy being able to finance this shopping expedition. Between them, he and Giles had known where most of the old Council's assets had been hidden away, and with the aid of some magically enhanced hacking by Willow, had helped get control of those assets passed over to the new organization. 

Buffy had been amazed by just how much money there was, which just made her more annoyed at the old Council. All the time she'd spent barely scraping by, worrying about whether she'd be able to keep her house, how she was going to put Dawn through school, working at the Doublemeat Palace to make ends meet, and the Council could have made all her money problems go away out of petty cash. There was enough money that all of the new Slayers were now on salary with generous expense allowances for work related purchases, in addition to the scholarship fund for the girls who were still in training. 

Buffy and Faith were even given back pay. Buffy had objected to that, but she was overruled by the others, so now Buffy and Dawn had over half a million dollars. (In order to keep from having to give half of her back pay to the government in taxes, they had disguised it as a late life insurance payout from the death of their mother, and half of it went to Dawn instead.) 

* * *

It was nearly five o'clock when they got back to Twiddlings Hotel. All of their new kick boxing pads, and helmets and other such items were packed away into Dawn's new trunk before she and Buffy escorted Hermione and Ginny back to the Leaky Cauldron to take the Floo back to Grimmauld Place. 


	23. Practical Defense

Dawn didn't get to see Harry again before it was time to go back to Hogwarts. Ron, Ginny and Hermione had made a couple more trips to Diagon Alley and Dawn had seen them there, but Harry wasn't being let out of the house again. He and Dawn had exchanged a couple of letters, using Dawn's owl. Dawn had settled on naming her Anyanka, because of her habit of making a rather shrill call, at inappropriate times. Dawn wasn't sure how Xander would react to the name when he found out, so she called her Yanka for short. 

On Monday, September first, Dawn and Buffy returned to King's Cross Station. They made their way to the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Dawn was pulling her trunk behind her, and carrying Yanka in her cage. 

Buffy looked around, surprised by just how many teenaged kids seemed to be heading in the same direction they were, hauling trunks like Dawn's and many with cages containing cats or owls. None of the other people in the station seemed to think that there was anything strange about it. Buffy was used to people ignoring the unusual, but she thought that so many owls would at least cause a few eyebrows to be raised. It wasn't the sort of 'impossible' thing that people seemed to just completely tune out. It was merely improbable. 

Once they crossed through the barrier Buffy realized that Harry had been right to call this place a madhouse on back to school day. Platform nine and three quarters was full of kids, and their trunks and their animals, as well as friends and family who were there to see them off. People were running to and fro and kids were shouting to friends they hadn't seen for months. It was total bedlam. 

Dawn looked around for anyone she recognised. She wasn't surprised that she didn't see anyone she knew. Harry had warned her that he and the Weasley's had a habit of arriving at the last minute, and had told her to snag a compartment for them on the train if she got there ahead of him. 

There was still plenty of time, so Dawn and Buffy walked down the length of the platform, making sure that there was no one there that they knew. About half way down Dawn noticed that they had attracted the attention of a small group of kids, all of them about sixteen years old. One of them, a boy with blond hair, pale skin, grey eyes and expensive looking clothes broke away from the others and came toward her. A couple of other very large boys followed him, like vassals following their lord. 

He smiled at Dawn in a way that she thought he must think was charming. "Hello, I don't recall having seen you before, and I'm sure I would remember meeting such a beautiful girl." He had an accent that reminded her of Wesley's when he first arrived in Sunnydale. 

'God, does he think that line will actually work?' Dawn asked herself, but she smiled back and decided to be polite. "No, this is my first year at Hogwarts." 

"Oh, you're an American! I didn't think there were many American wizards. Very few of us went off to the colonies," he said in a very condescending tone. 

Dawn was having trouble staying polite. "Yeah, well I'm new to the whole wizard thing. Never even heard about it until a couple of months ago. I'm Dawn Summers." 

The boy sneered at her. "Another mudblood. Bad enough that they let British mudbloods in, now they're importing them from the colonies." 

"Let me guess," said Dawn. "You must be Malfoy the amazing bouncing ferret." 

What little colour there was in Malfoy's face left it. Dawn saw his eyes fill with rage. The two goons standing behind him started to move forward, and Dawn felt Buffy move behind her, a subtle shifting of her weight that Dawn knew meant she was ready to take those two out if they started anything. 

Luckily for the goons, Malfoy held up his hands, restraining them from moving closer. "Careful, mudblood, The Dark Lord is rising, and he will purge the filth from our ranks. You will regret this day. I might have been able to protect you, if you'd treated me properly." 

"Yeah, well Moldywart can kiss my ass!" said Dawn, and with that she turned and walked away from him. 

Buffy watched for a moment to make sure that Malfoy and his goons weren't going to try anything while Dawn's back was turned, and then followed her sister. "Hey, way to make friends and influence people, Dawn!" 

"Don't need friends like them," said Dawn. 

"Can't disagree with you there." 

They moved back toward the entrance to the platform, keeping their eyes open. They found Hermione's parents waiting near the arch, so they joined them while they waited for the others. 

No one had shown up yet at a quarter to eleven. Kids were starting to board the train. Dawn decided that if she was going to save a compartment for them, she better go do it now. She gave Buffy a hug. "Okay, bye! I gotta go." 

Buffy hugged back. "Bye Dawnie! Don't forget to write!" 

"Hey, that's what I got Yanka for isn't it? And you're still going to be visiting." 

"Yeah, I'll see you in a month or so. Bye!" 

Dawn moved off down the platform, looking for a coach with an empty compartment in it. She found it about half way down the train and she lifted her trunk up into it. 

There was room under the compartment seat for her trunk, and Dawn put Yanka's cage on a shelf over the seats. She lowered the window and leaned out of the train. She could see Buffy and the Grangers still near the arch and waved to them. Buffy saw her and waved back. 

Dawn pulled back into the compartment and sat down in one of the seats. This train compartment was a little different from the one she had ridden in last time. It was a little like the difference between flying first class and coach. The seats were smaller, and pressed closer together. They were still more comfortable than any airline seat she'd been in though. 

A dark haired boy poked his head into the compartment. "Are these seats taken?" He had a round face and a bit of a crooked nose, that looked like it had been broken at some point. 

"I'm saving them for some friends," said Dawn, "but one's still available, if you don't mind sitting with a mudblood." 

The boy smiled. "Not a bit." He came in and sat down across from her. "Your family are Muggles, eh? You really shouldn't say 'mudblood' though. It's not a very polite word." 

"I think I figured that out from the way Malfoy said it," said Dawn. 

"You know Malfoy?" 

"Only well enough to know that I don't want to get to know him better," said Dawn. "I'm Dawn Summers." 

"Neville Longbottom." 

"Oh, hi!" said Dawn. "Harry's told me about you! Glad to meet you!" 

"You know Harry?" 

"Yeah," said Dawn. "He's one of the friends I'm saving a seat for, along with Ron, Hermione and Ginny." 

"You're new, aren't you?" asked Neville. "Where are you from?" 

"California," said Dawn. 

"That's in America, right?" asked Neville. "I've never met an American before." 

Dawn told Neville about life in California while they waited for the others to show up. She caught sight of Buffy, the Grangers, five Weasley's, Moody and Tonks outside the coach just before Harry and Ginny found them. The clock on the platform wall ticked over from 10:59 to 11:00, and the train whistle blew. 

Dawn and the others all crowded by the window, and waved goodbye to the people on the platform while the train pulled out of the station. Dawn noticed that Neville was waving to an old woman in a green dress, with a stuffed vulture on her hat. She stayed by the window until she couldn't see Buffy anymore. 

Dawn sat back down beside Harry. "So, where's Ron and Hermione?" 

"They're off being prefects," said Ginny. 

"Prefects?" 

"Senior students who ride herd on the rest of us," said Harry. "Mostly they make sure that the first years know where to go, and that senior students don't take advantage of them. Hermione spent half of last year keeping Fred and George from using first years as product testing guinea pigs." 

* * *

Ron and Hermione showed up about an hour later, just before the snack cart came through. Mrs. Weasley had made sandwiches for everyone, even Dawn, who had brought her own, so they got themselves bottles of butterbeer to drink, and cauldron cakes and chocolate frogs for dessert. 

They were just finishing up when a pretty, dark haired girl stuck her head into their compartment. "There you are, Harry!" 

"Oh, hi Cho," said Harry. "What's up?" 

Dawn took a very careful look at this girl. So she had been the object of Harry's affections for three years. 

"A bunch of us were wondering if you were starting up the DA again this year," said Cho. 

"Why?" asked Harry. "We've got a real DADA professor this time." 

"We still learned more in the DA than we would have, even with a decent teacher. There are clubs for people interested in most of the other subjects, why not DADA too? Only now we won't have to hide it." She gave Hermione a sour look. "And no need for sneaky jinxes." 

"I'll think about it," said Harry. "Not sure if I'll have time. I've been made the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain." 

"Oh yeah? Well congratulations! And good luck, you're going to need it. We're going to kick your arses this year, even with you back as Seeker. You don't have any Chasers." 

Harry smiled at Ginny. "I think we've got at least one." 

"But you need three." 

"I think we can find them," said Harry, "and you guys didn't have much luck scoring against Ron last game either." 

"I got to get back," said Cho. She gave Ginny a smile. "Michael's waiting for me." She disappeared. 

"Michael?" asked Dawn. 

"My old boyfriend," said Ginny. "He ran to Cho after I dumped him." 

"Oh." Dawn filed that bit of information away. It seemed almost as convoluted as some of the relationships from Buffy's high school days. Ginny used to have a crush on Harry, Harry'd had a crush on Cho, and had dated her, and now Ginny's ex was dating Harry's ex. She was thinking she might have to draw a diagram. 

Ron and Hermione had to leave from time to time to do a patrol up and down the train: making sure that the kids were mostly behaving themselves. Other kids dropped by to visit, and Dawn got introduced to more of the people who would be her classmates. Luna Lovegood, who had been the sixth member of the group who had gone with Harry to try to save Sirius from Voldemort in the spring. Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown had been Hermione's roommates for the last five years. Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas had been Ron and Harry's, along with Neville. Ginny was happy to see Dean again. They had been writing each other all summer, but this was the first they'd seen of each other since the end of last term. 

* * *

Dawn made a trip to the toilet about an hour before they were due to arrive at Hogsmeade. She was on her way back to their compartment when she heard an annoyingly familiar voice behind her. 

"_Tarantall—OW!_" 

Dawn had slammed the compartment door shut on the wrist of the hand holding the wand. The wand clattered to the floor and she scooped it up before she opened the door again. Draco Malfoy was on his knees, holding his wrist, and swearing. 

Dawn pointed his wand at him. "Point this at me again, and I will shove it where the sun don't shine. Understand me?" She looked at the two big bully boys who were in the compartment with Malfoy. They were starting to look like they realized that something had just happened, and maybe they should react to it. "That goes for you two gorillas too." She pocketed the wand, closed the door, and returned to her compartment. 

Harry saw the wand sticking out of Dawn's pocket when she sat back down. "What's that?" 

Dawn pulled it out. "It's a wand." 

Harry's eyes narrowed. He knew that wand. "That's Malfoy's wand." 

"Yeah, it is." 

"What are you doing with Malfoy's wand?" 

"He was about to hurt himself, so I gave him a lesson in Practical Defense, and took it away from him." 

"Hurt himself?" 

"Yeah, well, I think if he'd finished what he was starting, I would have had to hurt him badly, so I didn't let him finish." 

"What was he starting?" 

"It sounded like 'tarantallow!' But I think the 'ow' at the end was because I slammed the door on his wrist." 

Harry smiled. "'Tarantallegra.' It's a favourite of his. Forces you to start dancing uncontrollably." 

"You don't catch fire at the end do you?" asked Dawn. 

"Er…no…you just dance." Harry and the others gave Dawn a very puzzled look. 

"Oh, there was this…" Dawn glanced toward Neville. "…guy who came to Sunnydale a couple of years ago. Made people dance until they burst into flames." 

"Ouch," said Harry. 

Ron and Hermione arrived, out of breath. "What did you do to Malfoy?" asked Hermione. "He says you attacked him and stole his wand!" 

"No, I stopped him from attacking me, and confiscated his wand," said Dawn. "I suppose I'll have to give it back to him, eventually, if he asks politely." 

"If you wait for him to ask politely, it will be a long wait," said Neville. 

"I'm in no rush," said Dawn. 

"You may not get the chance to wait," said Ron. "He gathered up the rest of the Slytherin prefects, and they're searching the train for you, to take it back. They wanted to get the rest of us searching for you too, but everyone knows Malfoy's a git and probably deserved whatever you did to him." 

"I suppose I'll have to turn it over, when they get here," said Dawn. 

Harry grinned. "Not if they don't see you here." 

"Harry what are you…" Hermione saw Harry pulling out his trunk. "Oh no!" 

"What?" asked Dawn. 

"You wanted to see my invisibility cloak, didn't you?" Harry pulled a silvery cloak from his trunk. "Never got the chance to show it to you before." 

* * *

Dawn sat silently between Ginny and Hermione. Neville, Ron and Harry sat opposite her. Ron was reclining back with his long legs stretched out across the compartment. He was using her seat as a footrest. His feet were actually resting between her legs…not that she could see her legs. 

An older student wearing school robes, with a silver badge with a 'P' on it, stuck his head into the compartment. "We're looking for the American mudblood. Red jumper, long dark hair." 

Everyone in the compartment bristled. "Well, I don't see her here," said Ron. "Do you? And if I hear you call anyone a mudblood again, your blood is going to be in the mud." 

The guy in the robes glared at Ron for a moment, and then looked at the faces of the other people in the compartment and saw that Ron would have lots of help. He moved off down the aisle to check the next compartment. 

Neville was keeping an eye on the coach aisle. "Okay, he's gone," he reported a minute later. 

Dawn pushed Ron's feet down onto the floor. "You're getting a little close for someone who's 'just a friend.'" Ron smirked, and Dawn saw that Harry and Hermione both shot an annoyed look at him. 

Dawn started to pull off the invisibility cloak, but Hermione told her to keep it on. The other Slytherin prefects would be searching too. They would no doubt get looked in on more than once. 

"I can't keep this on forever," said Dawn. "Sooner or later I'm going to have to let someone see me." 

"I think we just need to get you into the Great Hall," said Harry. "I think we'll have made them all look sufficiently foolish by then." 

Hermione had been right. Slytherin prefects looked in on them several more times before they reached Hogsmeade. In the meantime they discussed the plan for getting Dawn off the train and into the school. Even with the invisibility cloak it wouldn't be easy to move Dawn across the crowded platform without someone bumping into her. 

They decided to go for a different sort of invisibility to get Dawn off the train. Draco was the only Slytherin prefect who had actually seen her. The rest were going by his description of her. Once she put on her school robes they wouldn't be able to see her clothes. Her other most distinguishing feature was her long dark hair. Ginny and Hermione helped to quickly braid it, and wrapped the braid up on the back of her head. 

"Um…we need something to hold it," said Ginny. 

Dawn smiled, and pulled Malfoy's wand out of her pocket. "Here, use this." 

Ron and Neville had gone to get some more members of the DA to help them. Everything was ready when the train pulled into Hogsmeade station. 


	24. Apology Requested

Students started getting off the train. Ron and Hermione had to go to help supervise the first years. Neville went ahead of the others to act as lookout, and to signal when the way was clear. As they'd suspected, Malfoy had chosen to keep an eye on the coach Harry was in, and he had Crabbe and Goyle as backup. Neville saw that everyone was in position, and signaled to them. Dean Thomas was standing behind Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle. He raised his wand. 

"There she is!" said a voice behind Malfoy, that sounded like Crabbe. Malfoy turned and saw a startled looking Crabbe pointing toward a girl in a red sweater with long dark hair walking quickly away toward the head of the line of carriages, dragging her trunk behind her. 

Malfoy took off after her, with Goyle right behind him. After a beat, Crabbe went too, still wondering why his arm had pointed that way, and who had spoken. 

"Now!" called Neville back into the coach. 

Harry, Ginny and Dawn came out of the coach, and quickly merged with a group of other students (all members of the DA) who had been milling around on the platform. They started to move toward the carriages at the other end of the line from where Malfoy was heading. 

Malfoy caught up with the girl he was chasing, grabbed her elbow, and spun her around. 

"_What do you think you're doing?_" asked Cho Chang. "_UNHAND ME!_" Draco was too startled to say anything. "_JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE A PREFECT DOESN'T GIVE YOU THE RIGHT TO START GRABBING ME!_" yelled Cho. "_I OUGHT TO POUND YOUR FERRET FACE INTO THE GROUND!_" 

Cho was attracting lots of attention. She kept yelling at Malfoy, really heating up as she got into it. Nearly everyone on the platform was looking her way now. No one was looking at the small group of students headed in the opposite direction. The other Slytherin prefects had all heard Cho shouting, looked toward her, and seen that she matched the description of the girl they were looking for. They all started to rush to Malfoy's aide. It wasn't until they got close enough to get a better look at her in the dark that they realized who she was. By the time a couple of them figured out that she was a decoy and started to look around again, Dawn was inside a carriage. 

A couple of Slytherin prefects inspected each carriage before it pulled away from the station. When they looked in Dawn's carriage, they saw it was full. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville and Luna all had seats. Dawn was wearing the invisibility cloak again, and sitting in Harry's lap. 

* * *

Everyone was applauding the fifth first year to be sorted into Gryffindor when Dawn felt someone watching her. She looked across the hall and saw Draco Malfoy was staring at her. She smiled and waved at him. "The jig is just about up guys," she told her friends. "Malfoy just spotted me." 

Malfoy didn't do anything right away. The rest of the sorting ceremony went ahead with him glaring across the hall at Dawn. 

Once the first years were all sorted into their houses a hush fell over the hall. Professor Dumbledore stood up at his seat at the high table. "Welcome!" His soft voice carried all the way across the hall. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! I have a couple of very important announcements to make, but they can wait until after we have filled our stomachs. Enjoy the meal everyone!" 

The tables all filled with food, and everyone started to reach for whatever was closest. A subdued chatter of conversation started up again, but most people were more intent on eating than talking. Dawn kept half an eye on Malfoy while she tried to get a taste of everything that was on the table. She didn't want him doing anything that took her by surprise. 

Once everyone had crammed in enough food to take the initial edge off their appetites conversation started to pick up again. Dawn saw Malfoy get up from his seat and move along the Slytherin table, pausing to speak with a few other students. He pointed Dawn out to them. This time she pretended to be ignoring the attention. The last of the students he talked to—Dawn recognised him as the prefect who had first looked in their train compartment—got up from his seat and moved to the high table. He spoke quietly to Professor Snape. 

"Uh-oh," said Dawn. "Looks like they're calling for the big guns." She saw Snape look her way and scowl. 

Snape got up out of his seat. He came around the high table and started to walk toward her. "Here comes Professor Snape," she told the others around her. "Whatever happens, let me handle it." She looked across the table at Ron and Harry. "Especially you guys. You've done more than enough already, let me take it from here." Dawn snuck a glance toward Malfoy, and saw a smug look on his face. 

Professor Snape stopped on the opposite side of the table from Dawn, behind Harry. "Good evening, Miss Summers." All conversation died around Dawn. 

Dawn looked up at Professor Snape and smiled. "Good evening, Professor. Great meal, huh?" 

The area of silence was spreading fast. It had reached the far side of the hall when Professor Snape spoke again, so everyone could hear him. "Why are you wearing Mr. Malfoy's wand in your hair?" 

Everyone heard Dawn's reply too. "Well, he tried to curse me with it, so I took it away from him." 

"I see," said Professor Snape. "Are you planning on keeping it as an accessory all term?" 

"No," said Dawn. "Just until he apologises, and asks politely for me to give it back." 

"Very well." Hermione and Ginny, who were sitting on either side of Dawn, couldn't believe they saw just the barest hint of a smile cross Snape's face. "Enjoy the rest of your meal." 

An even deeper silence fell over the hall as Professor Snape turned and started to walk back toward his seat at the high table. It was broken by a snort of laughter from someone at the Hufflepuff table. All the other students from Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor joined in about half a second later. Stunned silence still reigned at the Slytherin table. Draco Malfoy was ashen faced, his mouth hanging open in disbelief. 

Everyone at the Gryffindor table who hadn't met Dawn yet wanted to meet her now. She spent the rest of meal feeling she was getting short changed on all the wonderful desserts, because everyone wanted to talk to her. Eventually though things quieted down again. 

Dumbledore rose from his seat at the head table again. "Now that we have finished that wonderful meal, I have a few start of term announcements to make. First of all, I would like to welcome Remus Lupin back to Hogwarts as our Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor!" There was wild applause from nearly all the students in fourth year and above. Professor Lupin looked quite embarrassed by the attention. Dawn couldn't help noticing that he was wearing new robes. They looked much better than the ones he had been wearing the last time she saw him. 

"Second, I would like to remind all students that the forest on the school grounds is strictly out of bounds. This is more true this year than in the past. The centaurs are still quite upset with us. There will be very severe penalties for _all_ students caught in the forest…" He looked directly at the group surrounding Harry as he said that. "…assuming they get out alive." 

Dumbledore picked up a piece of parchment from the table. "The final announcement comes from the Ministry of Magic." He looked at it through his glasses. "Ahem. Educational Decree Number Thirty." A groan went through all the students. Dumbledore smiled at them, and went back to reading: 

**BY ORDER OF THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC**

Educational Decrees Twenty-two through Twenty-nine  
are hereby rescinded. 

The above is in accordance with Educational Decree  
Number Thirty. 

Signed: Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister for Magic.  
  


Wild applause swept through the hall. 

"What's that about?" asked Dawn. 

"The Ministry tried to take over running the school last year," said Hermione. "They came out with all these horrid 'Educational Decrees.' They tried to fire the teachers who didn't toe the Ministry line, outlawed all clubs and student organizations they didn't approve of, banned the reading of unapproved magazines, and eventually tried to replace Professor Dumbledore as Headmaster, all because he and Harry kept telling people the truth about Voldemort being back. Fudge nearly wet his pants when it was finally rubbed in his face that they were telling the truth." 

The hubbub died down, and Dumbledore announced that it was time for everyone to go to bed. A couple of prefects from each table—the new fifth year prefects, Hermione told Dawn—rose, and called for the first year students to follow them. Ron and Hermione did a quick head count as the new students passed them, making sure that all of the first years did indeed follow the prefects out of the hall. They followed along behind to make sure that no one wandered off. The rest of the students waited in the hall for another fifteen minutes before they started to move out, to give time for the first years to get sorted into their dorm rooms before they reached them. 

When Dawn, Harry and Ginny reached the portrait of the Fat Lady they found a group of students standing outside it. "Hey, Harry!" called Colin Creevey. "Do _you_ know the password?" 

"Try 'Queerditch Marsh,'" said Dawn. 

The Fat Lady heard her, and the painting swung open. 

"How'd you know that?" asked Colin. 

"That's what it was a week ago," said Harry. "Now go on in, you're blocking the door." 

Everyone quickly filed through into the common room, and most of them continued up the stairs toward the dorms. There was a bit of confusion among the senior girls, when some fifth and sixth years discovered they weren't with all the roommates they were expecting. 

Dawn soon found that the room she was to be sharing with Hermione and Ginny had half a dozen extra girls in it. "Hey, Hermione! What's going on?" asked Lavender. "Why aren't you with us this year?" 

"With so many girls graduating last year, there's room to put only three girls to a dorm room for the senior years," said Hermione. "So Ginny and I volunteered to move in with Dawn, since we've already known her for a few weeks." 

"How are you going to help us with our homework, if we aren't sharing a room?" asked Parvati. 

"Same way I help Ron and Harry," said Hermione. "We can still visit each other you know. I'm only one floor up from you. It's not like we're in a separate house or anything." 

Everyone started talking, catching up with each other on how they'd spent their summers. Some of the girls filtered away, and others came in. Some of the new arrivals were in their pajamas, and some of the ones who had left came back in their pajamas. It was starting to look like it might turn into a slumber party. 

Everyone wanted to hear how Dawn had taken Draco's wand away from him again, and then when she let slip that she was from Sunnydale they wanted to hear all about the collapse of the Hellmouth. Dawn gave them the version of the story she had told to Harry and Lupin the first day she met them, once again leaving out all the most exciting bits. Ginny and Hermione had both heard the full story by now, so they knew what the rest of the girls were missing. 

Hermione stopped it from developing into a real slumber party at eleven o'clock by reminding everyone that classes started tomorrow morning, and chasing all the visitors out of their room. 


	25. Betting Pool

Dawn arrived at breakfast the next morning with the braid gone from her hair. She had it tied back in a pony tail, with Malfoy's wand still stuck in it. It attracted a few looks from other students as she passed, but no one made any comments about it. She, Hermione and Ginny joined Harry and Ron at the Gryffindor table. 

Harry looked at the wand in Dawn's hair. "You know he isn't going to apologise don't you?" 

"I do consider that to be a fairly low probability event," said Dawn. 

"He's going to try some other way to get it back…and he isn't going to be nice about it." 

"I'm not too worried about what he can do without his wand." 

"He's got friends too, you know," said Harry. 

"You mean those two gorillas who are always with him?" asked Dawn. "Though I suppose I shouldn't insult gorillas like that." 

Ron laughed. "Crabbe and Goyle, and you're right: gorillas are smarter, better looking, and don't smell as bad." 

"Gorillas won't curse you in the back, either," said Harry. 

"Hey, I'm from Sunnydale," said Dawn. "I'm used to watching my back." 

Professor McGonagall came down the table at the end of breakfast, handing out class schedules to students. She frowned slightly at the wand in Dawn's hair but she didn't make any comment about it either. She handed Dawn her schedule. "Summers, your schedule is a little out of the ordinary. If you have any questions, come see me before your first class." 

"Yes, Professor," said Dawn. McGonagall continued down the table. Dawn unrolled her schedule and looked at it. She saw that her Defense Against the Dark Arts class was marked as being taken with Gryffindor, but her fourth year classes were being taken with different houses. She was taking Transfiguration with Hufflepuff, and Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures with Ravenclaw and Slytherin. There was no indication which houses she was taking Potions, Muggle Studies or Ancient Runes with. She glanced at Hermione's schedule and saw that she had those three classes at the same times as her though. "So why isn't the house indicated for these three?" she asked. 

"Because there's only the one class," said Hermione. "There aren't enough students taking them to teach them separately. All houses take them together…though you won't find any Slytherins in Muggle Studies." 

Harry took a look at Dawn's schedule. "So, we've got Defense Against the Dark Arts together this morning, and then we don't see each other for the rest of the day." 

"There's always lunch," said Dawn, "And the morning and afternoon breaks, and Hermione and I have Ancient Runes together this afternoon." 

* * *

They finished their breakfasts and returned to Gryffindor tower long enough to collect the books they'd need for their morning classes. They arrived at the DADA classroom shortly before class was due to begin. The door was open so they went in. About half the class was already there and Dawn found she recognised most of them, either from the train or the near slumber party that had taken place in her dorm room last night. 

They found themselves seats. Dawn sat in between Harry and Ron, and Hermione sat on the other side of Ron. 

Professor Lupin entered the class at eight sharp. "Good morning." 

A chorus of "good mornings" answered Lupin as he moved to the front of the class. Dawn had a look around and saw that everyone seemed genuinely happy to see him. 

Lupin leaned against the front of his desk. "Well, I've been looking over your test results, and reports from the last two years, and I see that you have received an excellent introduction to counter curses, and the theory of defensive magic, and I have heard that most of you have taken matters into your own hands and taught yourselves more than just the theory." 

A chuckle went around the room, and several people glanced toward Harry. 

"This year we are going to be going into more advanced defensive magic. You are going to learn more about the Unforgivables, and how to counter them. You are also going to learn some offensive magic, for, as one Muggle once put it: the best defense is a good offense. Be warned though, there will be _no_ tolerance for the use of offensive spells outside of the classroom. 

"We are also going to be starting the study of some of the more dangerous Dark Creatures this year. Those creatures that are sometimes referred to as demons. Some of you will find that we have an excellent resource with us this year on that subject. 

"As you all know, I am a werewolf, so there will be a couple of days each month when I will be unable to teach the class. The Wolfsbane Potion I take to keep myself from trying to kill you all, leaves me too ill during the day to teach. For those days I have arranged to have some guest lecturers come in. Some will be Aurors from the Ministry of Magic, others will be something of a surprise, but I am sure that you will find them most educational." 

Professor Lupin looked at the eager faces of his students. "So, to begin with a little review. Who can tell me one of the basic defensive spells?" 

Hands went up all around Dawn. She glanced around, feeling rather conspicuous about the fact that she seemed to be the only one who _didn't_ have a hand up. "Neville?" asked Lupin 

"_Expeliarmus,_ to disarm them." 

"And another?" He pointed to one of the girls. "Lavender?" 

"_Impedimentia,_ to stop an attack." 

"Excellent. Harry?" 

"_Incantum Reverto,_ to deflect hexes." 

"Very good." Lupin went around the class, getting a defensive spell from just about everyone. Dawn was starting to wonder if she belonged there. 

Lupin stopped asking for spells. "All right everyone. It's been a few months since you've had a chance to practice. Let's divide up into pairs, and try out some of those spells. We'll start with _Expeliarmus._" 

Harry paired up with Dawn. She was looking very uncertain. "Don't worry about it," he told her. "This is an easy one, you can do it no problem. Just point your wand at mine, and say 'Expeliarmus!'" He held his wand loosely in front of him. 

"Okay…" Dawn aimed her wand. "_Expeliarmus!_" 

Harry's wand flew out of his hand, and bounced off the ceiling. Dawn smiled, feeling pleased with herself. "Hey, it worked!" 

Harry shook his hand. His fingers were stinging a bit. "Yep. It worked." He recovered his wand. 

Lupin had been watching them. "Very well done, Dawn. Now an important part of this spell is being able to do it quickly. Your opponent isn't usually going to just stand there while you disarm him, so this time, when I say 'go' I want you and Harry to attempt to disarm each other. Are you ready?" 

Dawn and Harry held up their wands and nodded. 

"Go!" 

"_Expeliar—!_" Dawn's wand went flying from her hand. Harry had finished the spell first. 

"Excellent!" Lupin recovered Dawn's wand. 

"Excellent?" asked Dawn. 

Lupin smiled. "I think you'll find that most of this class would do well to get out two syllables of that spell against Harry." He looked around and saw that Neville, Ron and Hermione were practicing as a trio, since there were an odd number of students in the class. After watching them for a moment he called Neville over. "Neville, I think you and Dawn are pretty evenly matched. Harry, why don't you work with them, while I go check the rest of the class?" 

Professor Lupin was right. The first time Neville and Dawn tried to disarm each other he lost his wand. The second time they managed to disarm each other. 

After five minutes Lupin called a halt, and they moved on to other spells. Dawn stayed partnered with Neville, with Harry demonstrating the spells and coaching her while Professor Lupin worked with the rest of the class. 

By the time the class had ended Dawn was feeling better about her place in it. She was performing many of the spells just as well as the rest of her classmates. Professor Lupin assigned them a twenty-four inch essay on the appropriate use of defensive magic, and 'suggested' that they review chapter seven of _Curse and Counter-Curse_ before their next class. Dawn knew that the suggestion was mostly aimed at her, since she hadn't even read it a first time yet. 

Dawn's next class was Herbology, with the fourth year Ravenclaws and Slytherins. Harry and the others had Charms next, so she made her way to the greenhouses on her own. She found that the students who had arrived ahead of her were gathered into two distinct groups. She had made a point of looking over the fourth year kids at the Ravenclaw table at breakfast, so she was able to identify which group was which. She went up to the Ravenclaw group, feeling very conspicuous. She was a head taller than most of them. "Hi guys! Looks like I'm going to be in your class this year. I'm Dawn Summers." 

"Um, are you sure you're in the right place?" asked one of the boys. "You look a little old for this class." 

"And you're in Gryffindor," said one of the girls. 

"Yeah, well, I got a late start at this magic thing," said Dawn. "So I'm taking some fourth year classes, and they couldn't fit the fourth year Gryffindor classes into my schedule, so I'm taking Herbology, and Care of Magical Creatures with you guys." 

Another guy was looking at the wand in Dawn's hair. "Did you really use the Imperius Curse to make Malfoy give you his wand?" he whispered. 

"What?" asked Dawn. "No! I just slammed the compartment door closed on his wrist to make him drop it." 

"Oh!" said a girl. "What spell did you use for that?" 

"No spell," said Dawn. "Just my hand on the door." 

"You didn't use magic at _all?_" 

"Nope. Just quick reflexes and muscles." Several of the students were looking at Dawn like she'd grown a second head or something. "What? like you can't do anything without magic?" 

"No!" said one of the girls. "It's just that against Malfoy…He's known to be pretty quick with a curse, usually in the back." 

"Well, that's pretty much how this started. He tried to curse me in the back." 

They kept talking, getting acquainted, until Professor Sprout arrived. She quickly called the class to order, and escorted them into a greenhouse. There was a long table in the center on which Dawn could see about twenty potted Devil's Snare plants. She had gotten to be quite familiar with them over the two weeks she had spent there that summer. Part of each of her Herbology lessons with Professor Sprout had been spent helping her care for them. They had grown quite a bit more during the week she'd been away. 

Professor Sprout had them take up positions on either side of the table. Dawn took a spot at one end on the Ravenclaw side, while the Slytherins took positions on the other. Everyone had a plant in front of them. Dawn looked down the table: no one was actually trying to touch the plants, either because they knew what they were, or they knew better than to touch an unfamiliar plant in here. 

Professor Sprout stood at the end of the table. "Can anyone tell me what these plants are?" 

Half a dozen students, on both sides of the table raised their hands, including Dawn. Professor Sprout pointed to a red headed Slytherin girl. "Sandra?" 

"Devil's Snare, Professor." 

"Correct! Five points for Slytherin. Now who can tell us something about it?" More hands were raised. Professor Sprout selected the Ravenclaw boy who had asked Dawn if she was in the right place. "Mark?" 

"Devil's Snare is a carnivorous plant that grabs its victims with strong tendrils. It holds them fast, and strangles them." 

"Very good! Five points for Ravenclaw. What should you do if you are captured by a Devil's Snare?" Sprout selected another of the Slytherins. "Eric?" 

"The Devil's Snare is afraid of fire. It will release whatever it has hold of if you produce a flame from your wand." 

"Excellent!" said Sprout. "Another five points for Slytherin! Now, what do you do if the plant has grabbed you in such a way as to keep you from your wand?" 

There weren't nearly as many hands in the air now. Professor Sprout selected Dawn. 

"If you relax and don't struggle the plant may relax its hold on you enough that you can pull free, or reach your wand." 

"Correct! Five points for Gryffindor! The operative word of course was 'may.' There is no guarantee that it will do so. Some of these plants are quite tenacious. 

"Now, when I tell you to begin I want each of you to take your wand in hand, and with your other hand reach out and touch the Devil's Snare in front of you. Let it grab hold of your hand. Try to relax, and when the plant releases its hold on you, try to pull free. You must not pull away too soon, and you must pull quickly when the opportunity comes, or the plant will grab hold of you even more strongly. Do not use an Incendio charm to create a flame from your wand unless you have not been able to pull free before your hand starts to become numb. It is _not_ necessary to touch the flame to the plant. Just bringing the flame close is sufficient. I _will_ deduct points for any singed plants. You may begin." 

Dawn drew her wand and held it ready. She reached out with her left hand and tickled the Devil's Snare plant in front of her. Its tendrils whipped out and wrapped tightly around her hand. She wasn't the least bit worried. She had done this several times already. 

Dawn relaxed her arm, letting the Devil's Snare just hold her while she looked at the other students around her. Most of them had been much slower about letting the plant get hold of them. 

The plant started to release its hold on her, but Dawn didn't pull away. She kept watching the students around her. The girl to her right—Laurie Davis—tried to pull away too soon, before the Devil's Snare had really let go of her, and she suddenly found she had twice as many tendrils wrapped around her hand. 

Dawn kept waiting, letting the plant relax even more. When she felt the last of the tendrils release its hold on her, she snatched her hand away. Tendrils whipped after it, and nearly caught her again before she was out of range. 

Dawn looked at Laurie's hand. She could see that the plant was starting to relax again. "Wait," she said. "You have to wait until it has really let go of you." 

Dawn heard someone say "_Incendio!_" and looked down the table. One of the Slytherin boys had blue flames coming from the end of his wand, and he moved it toward the plant in front of him. He snatched his hand away as soon as the plant let go of him, and stepped back from the table. He shook his hand, and flexed his fingers to try and get the circulation going again. 

Dawn looked back at Laurie's hand. One finger that had a small tendril wrapped tightly around it was looking kind of purple, but the rest of them looked okay. The other tendrils wrapped around Laurie's hand were looking pretty limp. "Wait a bit longer," she told Laurie. "Let it let go of that finger. … Okay. …" Dawn could see the purple fading. "… Now!" 

Laurie yanked her hand away from the plant. Tendrils whipped at her, but they only caught air. "Thanks!" 

"No problem," said Dawn. 

"So how did you become such a Devil's Snare expert?" asked Laurie. 

"I spent two weeks here this summer, helping Professor Sprout take care of them while I got a crash course in the basics. Devil's Snare is about the only plant I _am_ an expert on. If you ever want to kill a house plant, ask me to take care of it for a couple of weeks." 

Dawn looked across the table. The Slytherin boy opposite her had somehow managed to get both his hands captured by the Devil's Snare, and he'd dropped his wand. His hands were turning purple. She looked and saw that Professor Sprout was occupied at the far end of the table. "Would you like some help with that?" she asked. 

He looked embarrassed. "Would you?" 

"No problem." Dawn raised her wand. "_Incendio!_" A blue flame appeared at the tip of it. She brought it down close to the plant and it suddenly released the boy's hands and curled up into a ball. 

The boy rubbed his wrists. "Thanks." He bent down to pick up his wand off the floor. 

"You're welcome." Dawn held her hand out across the table…being careful to keep it out of the plants' range. "Dawn Summers." 

"Rob Harding." He shook her hand. "So, did you really break Malfoy's wrist?" 

"No!" said Dawn. "I might have bruised it a bit." 

"Oh…too bad. I knew that story was too good to be true," said Rob. "My first year here, he got scratched by a Hippogriff. To hear him tell it the beast nearly killed him. He spent the next two months malingering." 

"So, I take it you aren't a member of the Draco Malfoy fan club?" asked Dawn. 

"Not _all_ Slytherins are useless gits," said Laurie. "One or two are decent human beings." 

"And some of us are so sneaky and conniving that we can convince pretty and smart Ravenclaw girls that we're nice, clumsy guys who got put into Slytherin by some cruel twist of fate." Rob smiled at Laurie. 

"You will also find that quite a few of the younger Slytherins are _not_ fond of Draco Malfoy," said Laurie. "He doesn't limit who he picks on to just the members of the other houses. You made a _lot_ of friends yesterday…and a lot of enemies." She nodded at one of the Slytherins farther up the table. "Eric Hamelin there has started a pool, on just how long it takes for Malfoy and his friends to take his wand back." 

Dawn gave Eric a look, while she let the Devil's snare in front of her take hold of her hand again. "What sort of odds is he giving on 'never'?" 

"You expect to hold onto it forever?" asked Rob. 

"No," said Dawn. "I figure some teacher will ask for it before things get too out of hand. I was really expecting Professor Snape to ask for it last night. I also expect at least one attempt by Malfoy to _take_ his wand back before the end of the week." Dawn grinned. "I do not expect it to succeed." The Devil's Snare had relaxed its hold on her again, and she pulled her hand back. 

* * *

Dawn left the Great Hall after lunch and headed across the lawn toward Hagrid's hut for her first Care of Magical Creatures class. She saw Eric Hamelin up ahead laughing with some of the other Slytherin boys. She ran to catch up with him. "Hey Eric! What's the close date on your pool?" 

Eric frowned at her. "What do you mean?" 

"Your pool on how long it takes Malfoy and his friends to take back his wand. There has to be an end date. What is it?" 

"End of classes on Friday," said Eric. "But no one expects it to go that long." 

"Anyone expecting him to get it back by apologising?" 

"No." 

"And how much does it cost to get in?" 

"One Sickle." 

"And what does the winner get?" 

"Nine tenths of the pot," said Eric. "Split among those who picked the same time. The pot is currently ten Galleons and six Sickles." 

"Fine." Dawn looked at Eric's friends. "Could you guys give us some privacy to conduct a little business?" They looked at Eric for a moment and he nodded at them. They continued on their way without them. Dawn pulled a Sickle out of her pocket and held it up. "This says I still have Malfoy's wand at the end of classes on Friday, or he'll have apologised." 

Eric looked at Dawn for a moment. "Alright." He pulled a notepad from his pocket and made a note in it. He gave the book to Dawn and she saw that he'd written: _Wand Pool, 4:00 PM Friday: Malfoy's wand still in Summers' possession, or Malfoy apologises — Dawn Summers._ "Initial at the bottom," he told her. 

Dawn took his quill and initialled the page. She handed the book back, and gave him her Sickle. Eric wrote _Payment received,_ initialed that and ripped the page from the book and gave it to her. She saw that the page below had a copy of what they'd written on it. 

"Thanks," said Dawn. "Oh, by the way, Have Crabbe and Goyle entered your pool yet?" 

Eric looked at her. "Not yet." 

"I'll give you a Galleon if they do, and you tell me what time they pick." 

"I'll consider your offer," said Eric. 

"Thanks!" said Dawn. "Let's go see what Hagrid has for us, shall we?" 

* * *

Dawn and Eric were among the last students to arrive outside Hagrid's hut. Eric rejoined his group of friends, and Dawn joined Laurie and Rob. Hagrid led everyone around to the paddock behind his hut, and Dawn thought that they were going to be getting a lesson on Hippogriffs, but she saw that Buckbeak was off in the far corner, ripping strips of meat off the carcass of some creature. At the front of the paddock, near Hagrid's hut was a herd of small deer-like animals. Several of the students gasped when they saw them. 

"All righ' then!" said Hagrid. "I can see tha' some of you know what these are. Who can tell tha res' o' the class?" 

Several hands went up, including Rob Harding's. Hagrid chose him. "They're Trivets!" 

"Tha's right," said Hagrid. "Now who can tell us sumat about 'em?" 

"They're an endangered species," said Laurie. "It's illegal to keep them in captivity." There was a note of accusation in her voice. Hagrid was well known for skirting around the laws dealing with the keeping of magical creatures. 

"Tha's why these aren't in captivity," said Hagrid. "Hogwarts is on the southern border of the Scottish Trivet Reserve. These here are wild Trivets." 

"Why are they still here then," asked Eric. "Trivets are notoriously shy, and usually flee at the first sign of people being around." 

"They don' run 'cause they know me, an' they trust me," said Hagrid. "If I warn't here, you wouldn't see hide nor hair o' them. So, why are Trivets endangered?" 

"Trivet horn is an ingredient in many potions, especially aphrodisiacs," said Sandra. "But removing their horns kills them." 

"Tha's right," said Hagrid. "What else?" 

"Trivets can apparate anywhere, even Hogwarts," said Rob. "They just have to know someone at wherever they're going to, so a lot were captured to try train as messengers, but only about one in ten was trainable, and the others quickly died in captivity." 

"Tha's right," said Hagrid. "Trivets do not take to bein' domesticated. The measures you have to take to keep a captive Trivet captive are harsh. Firs' chance they get, and they just disapparate away on you, so most captive Trivets die before they can be trained." 

Dawn leaned against the fence, looking at the Trivets. "They're beautiful." She watched one small Trivet, about three feet tall, break away from the herd and gambol over toward her. She held out a hand, and the Trivet nuzzled it. She looked at the triangle of golden horns coming out of its forehead. 

"Well now, tha's unusual," said Hagrid. "Trivets don' generally take a likin' to someone so quickly." 

"I guess this little fella just has good taste," Dawn scratched behind the Trivet's ear. "Don't you fella?" 

"Tha' there's a filly, not a fella," said Hagrid. "Yer can tell from the arrangement of tha horns. Male Trivets ha' one horn on top, an' two on tha bottom. Female Trivets are tha t'other way 'round." 

Some of the other students approached the fence, and the Trivet suddenly vanished, with a loud _crack!_ It seemed to echo from across the field. "What happened?" asked Dawn. 

"She apparated." Hagrid pointed to where the echo seemed to have come from. "There she is o'er there." The little Trivet was at the far side of the paddock, not too far from Buckbeak. It galloped back toward the herd. 

"Alrigh' then!" said Hagrid. "Trivet's are one magical creature tha's been nearly driven to extinction by wizards. Can someone name another?" 

Nearly every hand in the class went into the air. 


	26. Quidditch Practice

Dawn and Hermione found Harry pinning a notice to the board in the Gryffindor common room when they got back from their Ancient Runes class that afternoon: 

****

QUIDDITCH TRYOUTS! 

Everyone welcome! 

Three Chaser positions open! 

Looking for reserves in all positions! 

__

Practice sessions — Wednesday and Friday, 6:00 to 8:00 PM  
(Note: Gryffindor has exclusive use of the Quidditch pitch  
at these times, but nothing is stopping you from practicing  
off the pitch at any other time of the day! (But I'd stay  
clear of the Whomping Willow if I were you.)) 

Tryouts — Saturday afternoon, 1:00 to 4:00.  
  


"So are you going to try out?" Dawn asked Hermione. 

"Oh no! I'm not nearly good enough," said Hermione. "I'll just watch and give moral support to the ones who are trying. How about you?" 

"If you're not good enough, I haven't got a prayer. I guess I'll be watching and supporting with you." 

"You guys want to be my assistants?" asked Harry. 

"What do you mean?" asked Dawn. 

"While you're watching and supporting, keep notes," said Harry. "Keep track of who scores, who doesn't. How they dodge or hit the Bludgers. How many goals they let in. Stuff like that." 

Dawn and Hermione exchanged a look. "Sure we can do that," said Hermione. 

Ron and Ginny joined them. "So Ginny, what are you using for a broom this year?" asked Harry. 

Ginny just smiled at him. "I've got it covered." 

"What?" asked Ron. "You got one of Fred or George's hand-me-downs?" 

"Nope," said Ginny. 

Ron looked at the others. "She's been looking smug for three weeks now, and she refuses to tell me what she's got, or let me see her broom. She keeps saying she wants to _surprise_ us." 

"So when does he get his surprise?" asked Dawn. 

"Six o'clock tomorrow," said Ginny. 

* * *

Dawn left the Great Hall after lunch on Wednesday with Hermione, Harry and Ron. They started down the stairs toward the Potions dungeon. 

"Hey guys! Wait up!" 

They looked back and saw Neville hurrying after them. 

"You're taking Potions this year?" asked Ron. 

"Hey, I nearly fainted when I saw the 'Outstanding' on my OWL report card," said Neville. "I had to check to make sure that they sent me the right one." 

"Oh, no wonder Snape was in such a state that morning," said Hermione. "And I thought it was just because he'd found out that Harry and Ron had passed." 

"Hey, you aren't on his list of favourite people either," said Ron. 

"Yes, but my passing the OWLs didn't come as a shock to him." Hermione turned back to Dawn. "Snape spent five years picking on Harry and Neville, and was brutal with the way he criticised all of their class work." 

"But it seems I did pretty well in the OWL test, without him breathing over my shoulder," said Neville. "After Snape, the WEA examiners were a snap." 

"So who else is taking the class?" asked Ron. 

"Parvati, from Gryffindor," said Hermione. "She said Padma was taking it too. I don't know about anyone else from the other houses." 

They entered the Potions dungeon together. Dawn saw that there were a few kids there ahead of them. She recognised the Patil twins, who were talking together, though she hadn't met Padma yet. She took the binder of essays she had written for Professor Snape out of her bag, carried them down and placed them on his desk before returning to sit beside Harry at a bench. After his reaction to her handing in things written with a ballpoint pen, she wondered how he would react to getting the computer printed ones. 

A few more students filtered in after them. They congregated into three groups. Besides the half dozen students from Gryffindor there was an equal sized group that Harry told Dawn were from Ravenclaw. A smaller cluster of three Hufflepuff students were gathered together talking quietly. 

One girl sat off on her own. "Who's that?" asked Dawn. 

Harry looked at the girl. "Slytherin." He frowned, trying to remember her name. "Blaze something… Don't really know her." 

Professor Snape entered the dungeon at 1:00 on the dot. He ignored the binder sitting on his desk, and scowled at the students in his class. "Welcome to Advanced Potions." He looked around at the students. "All of you are here because you have demonstrated an outstanding ability in the subtle art of crafting potions." He glared toward Neville. "Miraculous as that may seem for some of you, but who am I to disagree with divine intervention." 

Snape slapped his wand against the blackboard, and a seating plan appeared on it. 

"For the rest of your Potions classes you are to work with your assigned partner. You and your partner are a team, you will share the same marks, points awarded will be split between you and your partner's houses. Points deducted will be taken from you and your partner's houses." He smiled—like a wolf smiles at a rabbit—out at them. "You will note that I have broken up some rather notorious groupings." 

Dawn looked over the plan, looking for herself and her partner. She found she was sitting in the center of the class, with Blaise Zabini. Further examination of the seating plan showed that Harry, Hermione, Ron and Neville were all placed into the four corners of the class. Each one paired up with a student from Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. 

Professor Snape scowled at them all. "What are you waiting for? I want everyone in their assigned seat!" 

Everyone scrambled to comply. Dawn moved to the center bench and joined the Slytherin girl. "Hey!" she said. "Dawn Summers." 

"Blaise Zabini," said the girl. "So, you're our famous American. What wizarding school did you go to there?" 

"Not a wizarding school," said Dawn. "Just Sunnydale High." 

"Sunnydale…That's where the Hellmouth was!" 

"Yeah," said Dawn. "Right smack dab under the Principal's office." 

"So, did Potter and Weasley really hold Malfoy down while you took his wand from him?" asked Blaise. 

"Is that what he's telling people now?" asked Dawn. "No! It was just me, and he had his two goons Crabbe and Goyle with him!" 

"It was his third story, in as many days," said Blaise. "The git can't even lie well." 

Dawn smiled at her. "Another not-fan of Draco Malfoy's I see." 

"He tried to feel me up once, last year," said Blaise. "Had to use a 'Basso' spell to keep from sounding like a soprano for a week." 

Dawn snickered. "I would have liked to see that." 

Their conversation was halted by Professor Snape beginning to speak again. "You are now in Advanced Potions." He tapped the board behind him. "You will never see a procedure for a Potion you are to prepare in this class on this board again. From now on, you will be devising your own procedures, from the principles you have learned in your earlier classes. Another aspect of Advanced Potions is the identification of unknown potions. With that in mind…" He waved his wand over his desk, and eight flasks appeared. "…each team is to take one of these flasks, and tell me what is contained within it by the end of today's class." 

* * *

Dawn and Ginny left their room together with their brooms over their shoulders. Ginny had hers wrapped in a blanket to keep anyone from seeing it. 

"Why the big secret?" asked Dawn. 

"Because I want to see Ron's face when he finds out." said Ginny. 

"Is it really that big a deal?" 

"Wait till you see his face." 

They made their way down through the castle and out the front door. Ginny had a look around to make sure that there was no one nearby before she pulled off the blanket and put the broom between her legs. "Let's go." 

Dawn climbed on her broom and they kicked off together. They flew down across the lawn to the Quidditch pitch. 

It seemed like half of Gryffindor house was there ahead of them. Dawn and Ginny did a circuit around the pitch before they pulled up to a hover on either side of Ron near the goal posts. 

"Hi Ron!" said Dawn. 

"Hi," said Ron. He looked at Ginny hovering on the other side of him. "Hi Ginn— _Bloody hell!_" 

Ginny smiled at him. "Hi Ron!" 

"_How the hell did you get a Nimbus?_" 

"You like it?" asked Ginny. 

"_It's a Nimbus!_" said Ron. "How the hell did you get one of those?" 

"I take it that's a good broom," said Dawn. 

"Bloody hell!" said Ron. 

"Not very original with his expletives, is he?" asked Ginny. 

"Bloody hell!" said Ron. "How did you get a Nimbus?" 

"So it would seem," said Dawn. 

"It's only one of the best damn brooms there is!" said Ron. "The only thing faster is a Firebolt! How the _hell_ did you get one?" 

"I was in Fred and George's a few weeks ago," said Ginny. 

"Don't tell me that business is going so well that they could afford to give you a _Nimbus!_" 

"No, they didn't give it to me," said Ginny. "But Oliver Wood came in while I was there, and he'd heard how well I'd done as Seeker last year, and I told him I was trying out for Chaser this year, and his team was upgrading to Firebolts, so he let me have the Nimbus he'd been flying." 

"Bloody hell!" said Ron. 

Ginny looked across the pitch. Half a dozen would be Chasers were scrimmaging with the Quaffle and one of them looked like she might have a break away. She came barrelling toward them and let the Quaffle fly at the left goal hoop. Ron quickly shifted over and caught it. He threw it back to the girl. "Why don't you get out there and show 'em how it's done, Sis? Try not to show them up too badly." 

Ginny grinned. "I'll do my best." She flew off to join the kids. Dawn watched her join in the fray. Ginny was clearly the best flyer of the lot of them. Dawn had only seen Harry performing that well on a broom, dodging and weaving through the other players. She was also the best at handling the Quaffle among them. She never missed catching a pass that was even close to being thrown in her direction, and her passes to other players were always dead on target. Dawn started to frown. Slayer strength and sports were often not a good mix. She could remember more than one game that was brought to an abrupt end because Buffy got a little too enthusiastic, and broke something. 

Harry flew up to them, accompanied by Hermione and a couple of guys she hadn't met yet. Harry introduced her to Andrew Kirke and Jack Sloper—a couple of seventh year students who were the team's beaters. They all watched the scrimmage going on in front of them. 

"Ginny's pretty good, isn't she?" asked Jack. 

"Knew she could fly," said Andrew, "but I didn't know she was so good with the Quaffle." 

"Little too good," said Dawn quietly. 

"What?" asked Harry. 

Dawn hadn't been aware she had actually spoken out loud. "Oh, no, nothing. Just talking to myself." 

Harry smiled at her. "Okay." He had a whistle on a cord dangling from around his neck. He blew a quick blast on it. Everyone over the pitch stopped and looked toward him. "_Ginny!_" He beckoned for her to come join him. "Come here!" 

Ginny tossed the Quaffle she'd just intercepted to one of the other kids and flew back to the others by the goal posts. "What's up Harry?" 

"From the looks of things, I don't think you need much practice at Chasing before the tryouts, so could you work with the kids who are trying out for Seeker? Run them through some of the standard drills." 

"Sure, I can do that." 

"Okay. Jack and Andrew can do the same with the Beaters, Ron can work with the Keepers, and I'll take the Chasers." Harry looked around. "Any questions?" He watched everyone shake their heads. "Okay, let's get this show on the road." 

Harry blew another long blast on his whistle, and when he had everyone's attention he shouted and waved for them all to come down to his end of the pitch. 

"Okay, listen up!" he said when everyone had gathered. "We're going to get this practice session organized! We have the pitch until sundown, which is in about two hours, so we need to make the best use of our time!" 

Harry pointed to Ginny. "Those of you trying out for Seeker are going to be working with Ginny Weasley today!" He pointed to Ron. "If you're here for the reserve Keeper spot, you're going to be working with Ron Weasley!" He pointed to Andrew and Jack. "If you want to be a Beater, Andrew Kirke and Jack Sloper are going to be working with you. The rest of you, who want to be Chasers, are stuck with me!" A bit of a chuckle went through the crowd. 

"Hermione and Dawn…" Harry pointed to each of them. "…are going to be collecting everyone's names. Alright everyone! Let's get going!" 

The mob broke up into four groups. About half a dozen kids went off with Ron, and another half dozen joined Jack and Andrew. The largest groups went with Harry and Ginny, who got a dozen kids each. 

Hermione flew over beside Dawn and handed her a clipboard. "You can do the Chasers and Beaters. I'll take the Seekers and Keepers." 

Dawn took her clipboard. "Um, thanks." She looked at it. "Is there some way I can tie it too me, in case I drop it?" 

"Don't worry," said Hermione. "It's enchanted. If you let go of it, it will follow you around, unless you tell it to stay. Same goes for the pen." Dawn was pleased to see that it was a regular ballpoint pen. She wasn't going to have to try and write with a quill while riding a broom a hundred feet off the ground. 

"Okay." Dawn looked off at the group with Ginny. "Some of those kids look pretty young." 

"Yeah," said Hermione. "Ever since Harry was made the team's Seeker in his first year, half the new students think that they can do the same. I hope Ginny lets them down easy. Catch you later." She flew off toward Ginny's group. 

* * *

Dawn was sitting in the stands half an hour later, copying the names and other information she'd taken down about the kids trying out for the team; writing while flying on a broomstick had done nothing for her penmanship, which wasn't the best under ideal conditions. She sensed someone approaching and looked up. It was Laurie Davis and Cho Chang. Cho had a red bundle under her arm. 

"Hi!" said Dawn. "What brings you guys down here?" 

"Spying on the competition," said Cho. "And also returning this." Cho pulled the bundle out from under her arm and held it out to her. Dawn saw it was her sweater. 

"Thanks!" said Dawn. "And thanks again for helping me get off the train." 

"No problem," said Cho. "If you ever need my help to wind up Malfoy again, don't hesitate to ask." 

Laurie turned her attention to the people flying around the Quidditch pitch. "So, how do these guys look?" 

"Couldn't tell you," said Dawn. "Don't know the game. Even if I did, I wouldn't tell you. You _are_ the competition after all." 

Laurie was watching the group working with Harry. "A couple of them look like they've got potential. Where's Weasley? I thought she was trying out for Chaser this year." 

"She is." Dawn pointed down the pitch. "But Harry asked her to work with the kids trying out for the reserve Seeker spot, while he took the Chasers. She was practicing with the Chasers earlier, and even I could see she was the best of them." 

Hermione joined them. "Hi Cho, and um…?" 

"Laurie Davis," said Dawn. "She's in my Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures classes." 

"And she's one of our Chasers," said Cho. "Hello Granger." Dawn couldn't help notice her coolness toward Hermione. "Come on Laurie, let's go get a closer look." Cho nodded down toward the pitch, and walked away. Laurie shrugged at Dawn and Hermione and followed her. 

"Not giving away our secrets to the competition, I hope," said Hermione. 

"Not really. I think they both had a much better idea of how good everyone out there is than I do, even before they came over to talk to me," said Dawn. "Cho was just returning my sweater. What is it between you two anyway, she doesn't seem to like you much." 

"Well, first of all, I'm part of the reason she and Harry broke up," said Hermione. "She couldn't deal with us being such close friends, even though there is nothing, you know, boyfriendly, about our relationship. Harry didn't handle that well at all either. He shouldn't have told her that he'd arranged to meet with me in the middle of a date with her. And then I kinda jinxed one of her friends. She's still upset about that too." 

"What did you do?" 

"We told you about _Dumbledore's Army_, right? Well at our first meeting I had everyone swear to keep it a secret from Umbridge, and then sign their names to a piece of parchment. I didn't tell them that there was a jinx on it, and if anyone who signed talked, they'd end up with 'SNEAK' written across their face in purple pustules." 

"Eww!" said Dawn. 

"Marietta's face should have cleared up about mid-July." said Hermione. 

"That was nasty," said Dawn. 

"If she'd kept her word, nothing would have happened to her." 

* * *

For the final half hour of their practice Harry divided everyone who had come into two teams, and they had a pickup Quidditch game. Both sides had twice as many Chasers and Beaters as they should, but that made for a lively competition. They handled having too many Keepers by trading them off every ten minutes, so everyone had a turn. 

They had far too many would be Seekers—even though most of the first year hopefuls had realized quickly that they were _not_ going to be the next Harry Potter, and had left feeling rather dejected—so they set up a separate game for them. Harry had brought some enchanted balls that were used for practicing Seeking. These weren't autonomous like the Snitch, they needed to be guided by someone with a wand. Ginny, Hermione and Dawn each took control of one, and the would be Seekers raced each other around in pairs, chasing them over the pitch where the others were playing their game. 

They had to quit shortly after eight o'clock. The sun had set, and the daylight was quickly fading. As Harry's designated 'assistants' Dawn and Hermione stayed behind with him to help clean up, getting the Quaffle and Bludgers properly returned to Madam Hooch's office, and making sure that the school brooms that some of the kids had been using were neatly back in their racks in the broom shed. 

* * *

Ginny was already in one of their bathtubs when Dawn and Hermione got back to their room. Hermione told Dawn to take the other one. "I'll force myself to go use the Prefect's Bathroom," she said with a smile. She had already told Dawn that it would be a violation of the rules to let her back in it while the term was in session. She took a change of clothes, and disappeared again. 

Dawn didn't mind in the least. She wanted the chance to talk with Ginny privately. She got undressed quickly and settled herself into the other tub. She played with the bubbles floating on top of the water for a bit while she thought about just how she was going to approach this. 

"Ginny?" she asked after a few minutes of soaking. 

"Hmm?" came Ginny's lazy voice through the screen that separated the two tubs. 

"Have you thought about how your Slayer abilities affect the way you can play Quidditch?" 

"They make me _really_ good at it." 

"Yeah, they do," said Dawn. She hesitated a bit. "Maybe too good." 

"What do you mean?" asked Ginny. 

"It's just…it gives you a bit of an unfair advantage over other people." 

"Are you telling me I can't play?" 

"No!" said Dawn quickly. "That's not it at all. It's just…you have to be careful. It isn't just that you're faster, and more accurate with the Quaffle now…you're stronger too. In the excitement of a game if you put a little too much oomph behind a pass, you might knock your teammate right off her broom. You could hurt someone. You're going to have to work to control that. You'll also have to be careful not to draw too much attention to yourself." 

"You're saying I should hold back…not play my best." 

"Yeah…I guess I am saying that a bit." 

"I think I'd rather not play at all." 

"Look, don't make any decisions too quickly. Just be careful in the next practice session, and at the tryouts. Try not to stand out too much." Dawn had a bit of a feeling…there was an idea brewing somewhere in her head, simmering below the surface. She didn't know what it was yet, but she recognised the feeling. "We'll work something out." 


	27. The Battle of Malfoy's Wand

Eric Hamelin caught up with Dawn on the way to Care of Magical Creatures on Thursday afternoon. "Got a Galleon?" he asked. 

"I do," said Dawn. "Have Crabbe and Goyle entered your pool?" 

"They have." Eric smiled. "Malfoy too." 

Dawn pulled a gold coin out of her pocket and held it up so Eric could see it. "When?" 

"Tomorrow morning, between first and second periods," said Eric. 

Dawn dropped the coin into his hand. "Thanks." The news didn't really surprise her. That would be their best chance to catch her alone. 

Eric pocketed the money with a grin. "You're welcome. There's a little side action going now. I stand to make a tidy profit if you win." 

"And if I lose?" 

"Not so much profit…but I'll still come out ahead, that's the nice thing about being the facilitator for these transactions." 

"So what's the pot at now?" 

"Fifteen Galleons, eleven Sickles, but you'll have to share with a couple of other Gryffindors now if you keep the wand." 

"Who?" 

Eric smiled. "I can tell you that for another Galleon." 

"I think I can wait till tomorrow afternoon to find that out." 

* * *

Dawn left Charms on Friday morning. It was the only fourth year class that she was taking with Gryffindor students. She had been wondering how she was going to do this. She could probably avoid Malfoy and his goons by taking the long way around and sticking to crowded hallways, or she could take the direct route to her Transfiguration class which would take her through a corridor that was usually deserted at this time of day. If she avoided Malfoy now though, he'd probably just wait to attack her at some other time, when she wasn't expecting it. She had also considered asking Harry and her other friends for a little backup, but once again she decided that that would only frighten Malfoy off temporarily. She couldn't spend the next ten months with a bodyguard following her around. She'd look like Malfoy and his goons. 

Dawn turned into the deserted corridor. She couldn't see anyone, but she knew that there were several alcoves along it in which someone could hide. She started along it. "Maybe this wasn't such a bright idea." she told herself. 

She kept going down the corridor. She was about half way along it when she saw the slim form of Draco Malfoy step out from behind a suit of armour ahead of her. Dawn didn't slow down, she kept moving toward him. 

Malfoy moved to block her. Dawn stopped a few feet away from him, just out of his reach. 

"Give me my wand," said Malfoy. 

Dawn pretended to think for a moment. "Um…No, I don't think that qualifies as an apology, and it wasn't very polite either. Try again." 

"Give me my wand, bitch, or you will regret it!" 

"Not an improvement," said Dawn. "And you can tell your two goons who are trying to sneak up behind me to stay where they are." 

"_Petrificus…_" Dawn dropped as soon as she heard the start of the spell being spoken by one of the goons behind her. "_…Totalus!_" She felt a slight brush of the spell passing over her as she spun. Her leg stretched out and she caught Crabbe's front foot. (Or it might have been Goyle's, she really wasn't sure which was which yet.) Crabbe's foot went out from underneath him and he started to fall, Dawn was already coming back up and she snatched his wand out of his hand as she passed him. 

Goyle (or maybe it was Crabbe) snarled and charged at Dawn. He didn't have a wand in his hands, he seemed intent on pounding her with his fists. Dawn knew that if the big guy actually managed to make contact with her, he could do some damage, but his attack was completely without skill. Dawn deflected his first punch, and he was so off balance it just took a little shove to send him stumbling into Crabbe, just in time to knock him off his feet again. They both fell into a heap on the floor together. 

Dawn finally drew her own wand. She pointed it at Crabbe and Goyle, who were trying to scramble back to their feet. "_Impedimentia!_" Their movements slowed, and they looked like they were struggling to move through thick molasses. Dawn reached down and plucked Goyle's wand from his pocket. "I'll take that too." 

Dawn looked around to see what had happened to Malfoy. He was standing, frozen in place by the spell that Crabbe had tried to hit her with. He was tottering on his feet, and finally fell over backwards. Dawn winced as his head hit the floor. "Ooo, that had to hurt!" 

She could hear Draco trying to cry out in pain, and tears filled his rapidly blinking eyes. She knelt beside him to have a good look at them. She shaded them with her hand to see how his pupils reacted. "Okay, you're not out cold, you don't seem to be bleeding, and your pupils look good, so I don't think you got a concussion, but you might want to go see Madam Pomfrey anyway, when that spell wears off." She got back to her feet. "I'd go tell her myself, but if I don't hurry, I'll be late for Transfiguration, and Professor McGonagall really hates it when students are late." 

* * *

Dawn arrived at Transfiguration with about ten seconds to spare. McGonagall frowned at her, and her eyes narrowed when she saw that Dawn now had three wands adorning her hair. She didn't make any comment about it though, but launched straight into her lecture. 

About five minutes into the class someone behind Dawn suddenly laughed. She glanced around and saw one of the Hufflepuff boys pointing toward her, and whispering to a friend. 

Others in the class noticed them, and there were several more snorts of laughter as others in the class noticed that Dawn had added to her collection. 

Professor McGonagall tapped her wand sharply on her desk. "Your attention please! Any further outbursts, and I will be forced to deduct points from your houses." Everyone quickly settled down and returned their attention to the front of the class. 

* * *

Several kids started to approach Dawn as soon as the class ended. That stopped as soon as Professor McGonagall called out: "Summers! I would like to have a word with you." Suddenly everyone wanted to far away from Dawn, and the classroom emptied out as she made her way forward toward McGonagall's desk. 

"Yes Professor?" 

"Am I correct that you have now added Crabbe and Goyle's wands in your hair, along with Mr. Malfoy's?" 

"Yes Professor." 

"Do you plan to collect the wand from _every_ Slytherin student in the school?" 

"No ma'am. Just the ones who attack me." 

"I see. And do you intend to hold on to them indefinitely?" 

"No Professor. Just until dinner tonight." 

"What happens at dinner tonight?" 

"I plan to hand them all over to Professor Snape, and let him decide what to do with them." 

"I see," said McGonagall. "Good day, Summers." 

Dawn flashed her a smile. "Bye Professor." She returned to her desk to gather up her notebooks, and hurried off to join her friends in DADA class. 

* * *

Dawn slipped into the empty seat beside Harry in class. "Hi guys!" 

Ron was on the other side of the Harry. He looked across at her. "You seem to have acquired some more wands. Who do those belong to?" 

"Crabbe and Goyle. They tried to help Malfoy take his wand back." 

"When did that happen?" asked Harry. 

"Just before Transfiguration." 

"What did you do to them?" asked Ron. 

"I just did an _Impedimentia_ on them," said Dawn. "Crabbe—or maybe it was Goyle, I'm still not sure which is which—tried to hit me with a _Petrificus Totalus_ but he missed and got Malfoy instead. I left them all in the third floor corridor between Charms and Transfiguration. Someone's bound to have found them by now, even if the spells haven't worn off yet." 

* * *

Dawn scanned the Slytherin table when she arrived in the Great Hall for dinner. She couldn't see any sign of Malfoy, Crabbe or Goyle. She walked down along the table and stopped opposite Eric. "Just for the record, I've still got it," she told him. "I'll be expecting my winnings soon." 

"I always pay my winners promptly," said Eric. "Anything else is bad for business." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cloth sack. "Here you go." He tossed it to her. "I think you can be trusted to make sure that Potter and Weasley get their shares. You can keep the bag." 

"Thanks!" said Dawn. She continued toward the teacher's table, where Professor Snape was engaged in a conversation with Professor Sinistra. She stopped in front of them, and pulled the wands from her hair. "Excuse me, Professor Snape?" 

Snape looked across at her. "What is it Summers?" 

Dawn placed the wands on the table in front of him. "Could you see that these get back to their owners, please." 

"So, Mr. Malfoy has given you an acceptable apology then?" 

"No, I'm just getting tired of carrying it around." 

Professor Snape pursed his lips. He slowly reached out and picked up Crabbe and Goyle's wands. He left Malfoy's on the table in front of him. "You were the one who set the condition for the return of Mr. Malfoy's wand, Miss Summers, not me. You will continue to carry it until you have received his apology." He put Crabbe and Goyle's wands into an inner pocket of his robes. 

Dawn looked at Snape for a moment before she picked up Malfoy's wand again. "If that's the way you want it." She turned around and saw that Malfoy had entered the Hall while she'd been talking with the Professor. He was standing by the door, looking at her, with Crabbe and Goyle flanking him. He saw her looking at him, and started to look like he was going to bolt. 

"_Malfoy! Don't move!_" Dawn shouted, and she started toward him. Malfoy looked around desperately, hoping for some escape from the crazy girl bearing down on him, but half the hall was staring at him…the half that wasn't staring at Dawn. He couldn't bear the humiliation of being seen to run from her. 

Malfoy tried to recover a little by sneering at Dawn as she came closer. "What do you want now, mudblood." 

"I want this nonsense to end!" said Dawn. She waved his wand under his nose. "You can get this back very simply, without you or your goons collecting any more bruises. I figure you can get it back by speaking about eight words. I don't insist on sincerity, I realize that is beyond your capacity, but I do insist on the words. Now, repeat after me: 'I'm sorry.'" 

Malfoy glared at her for a moment. "I'm sorry." he sneered. 

"Try it again, with a little less sneer. You can do it." 

"I'm sorry." said Malfoy. 

"I _knew_ you could!" said Dawn in a tone of voice that made a couple of nearby Muggle born kids who could remember Mr. Rogers snicker. "Now say: 'May I have my wand back, please.' I realise you may be unfamiliar with the word, but the 'please' is very important." 

"May I have my wand back, _please_." said Malfoy. 

"_Very good!_" Dawn tapped him on his chest with the wand. "Now, you remember what I told you I'd do with this if you ever tried to curse me again?" 

Malfoy nodded. 

"Good!" Dawn shoved the wand into the pocket on the front of his robe. "Don't forget it." 

There was applause from around the hall as Dawn turned and started to walk away from Malfoy. She ignored it as her wand came out of the spring loaded stake holster she'd adapted for it, and had strapped to her forearm under the sleave of her robe. "_Incantum Reverto,_" she said quietly. It was a spell they'd been practicing in DADA today. She didn't turn when she heard a gasp from the students watching. 

"_Verruca Multiplico!_" said Malfoy behind her. She felt a slight vibration as his spell reflected off the shield she'd erected. 

Dawn slowly turned toward Malfoy, a smile on her lips. She saw his gloating expression slowly fade when he saw her face. She raised her wand. "_Expeliarmus!_" Malfoy's wand went flying into the air. It clattered to the floor half way between them. 

Dawn hadn't done summoning charms yet, but she knew one that would work. She pointed to the wand on the floor. "_Leviosa!_" Malfoy's wand rose up off the floor, and she floated it toward herself. She walked forward to meet it, and picked it out of the air. She kept walking toward Malfoy, who was looking terrified now. 

"You are _so_ lucky there's more than one place for me to stick this where the sun don't shine." Dawn tapped his wand against his chest. "And by the way, the warts: good look for you!" 

Malfoy's hands went to his face, feeling the warts that had started popping up on his skin from the spell Dawn had reflected back at him. He saw that his hands were covered with them too. He turned and ran from the hall. Dawn looked back and forth between Crabbe and Goyle. They turned and ran after Malfoy. 

Dawn walked to the Gryffindor table accompanied by roars of laughter. She took a seat beside Harry and across from Ron and Hermione, and placed Malfoy's wand on the table in front of them. "So, now I have to find some place where the sun don't shine to stick this…other than Malfoy's ass, because I really _don't_ want to see that." She pulled the bag of coins she'd gotten from Eric out of her pocket and dumped it out on the table too. "So, let's see, how do we split…fourteen Galleon's and thirteen Sickles three ways?" 


	28. Seeker

Dawn decided that Professor Snape's office qualified as 'a place where the sun don't shine' so she took a detour on the way to Quidditch practice that evening. She shoved Malfoy's wand through the slot in his door for students to hand in written assignments. 

When she reached the Quidditch pitch she found that there were a lot fewer kids there tonight. Many of Wednesday's hopefuls had taken themselves out of the competition when they found out what they were up against. Not all of the younger kids were gone though. Harry had gone around to talk with some of the second years who had been discouraged by how much better some of the older students were than them, and encouraged them to come back. He wasn't just thinking of this year. He wanted to have some younger players ready to move up to take the places of Jack and Andrew after they graduated at the end of the year. 

Harry was down to having half a dozen Chasers to work with. Dawn recognised Colin Creevey, Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas and Lavender Brown among them. Colin's younger brother Dennis was among the three Seeker hopefuls still working with Ginny. Jack and Andrew had a pair of seventh years and a pair of second years that Harry had encouraged to come back working with them. 

Dawn watched Harry working with the Chasers. She had her clipboard again. This time Hermione had prepared forms for her with every player's name, and columns in which she could tally every time they successfully, or unsuccessfully passed the Quaffle or scored a goal, and half a dozen other measurements. She wondered for a moment if Quidditch fans got as obsessed with statistics as Baseball fans. Dawn added Harry's name to the forms, and kept track of him while they practiced too. 

Dawn looked off to where Ginny was working with the Seekers. They had the practice balls out again, and Hermione was shooting them around the sky where they could be chased after by pairs of flyers. Ginny was taking turns herself, and she was clearly the best of them all. 

Harry traded places with Ginny forty-five minutes into the practice. He wanted to have a good look at the Seeker hopefuls himself, and he wanted to give Ginny some practice at Chasing before the actual tryouts tomorrow. Dawn watched for a while, while Ginny took part in an exercise with the Keepers: games of two on one like the one Dawn had played with Harry and Hermione a couple of weeks ago. She winced when Ginny threw the Quaffle a little too hard one time, and nearly knocked Ron off his broom. 

Dawn switched back to watching Harry work with the Seekers. She got to see how well he flew in comparison to Ginny. She knew she wasn't an expert, but it seemed to her that they were pretty close in ability. Her idea started to crystalise. 

They ended the practice session with another half hour scrimmage. They had pared down the number of kids trying out so that they had two full teams, with only one extra Keeper and Seeker, so they rotated through the three Keepers, swapping one out every ten minutes. 

They also included the Seekers in the game, two at a time, orbiting the pitch looking for the 'Snitch.' Harry released one of the practice balls from time to time for them to chase, and then they swapped out whichever one caught it (on the theory that the slower Seeker needed the practice more.) 

Dawn flew up beside Ginny after all the Seekers had had a couple of chances. "So, how good are you at Seeking, compared to Harry?" 

"No one's as good as Harry!" said Ginny. 

"Are you sure?" asked Dawn. "Have you ever flown against him…now that you've got a good broom…and you're a Slayer?" 

"What are you saying?" asked Ginny. 

"Buffy demonstrated a few weeks ago that being a Slayer doesn't do a _whole_ lot for your flying ability. I'm sure that your faster reflexes and things will help, but being a Slayer wouldn't affect your ability to catch the Snitch nearly as much as it affects how you play as a Chaser. I'm no expert, but I've been watching both of you practice, and you don't look that different to me. I'd be curious to watch you fly against each other." 

"You think I can beat Harry?" 

"One way to find out," said Dawn. "You game?" 

Ginny thought for a second, and then smiled. "Sure!" 

"Hey Harry!" called Dawn. 

"What?" 

"I want to see how good a Seeker you are!" said Dawn. "Why don't you and Ginny give these kids a demonstration of how it's really done?" 

"Okay!" said Harry. "Hermione, you can control our practice Snitch." 

Harry and Ginny replaced the two Seekers currently circling the pitch, and took up looking for the Snitch. Dawn flew over to Hermione. "Really make them work for it." 

"Alright," said Hermione. While they'd been working with the kids they had kept the speed of the practice Snitches down, but they were actually capable of going faster than the real thing. 

Hermione waited, carefully watching Harry and Ginny circling the pitch. She released the practice Snitch at a point half way between them, when neither was looking in the right direction. 

Ginny saw the Snitch first, and dove for it. Harry dove half a second later. Dawn couldn't tell if it was because he'd seen it himself, or because he'd seen Ginny, and knew she had to be going for it. Ginny's half second lead was being eaten away slowly though by Harry's faster broom. Dawn watched them both closing on the Snitch in what looked like a game of chicken. If one of them didn't flinch first, they'd collide. 

Neither flinched. Hermione sent the practice Snitch flying off at a right angle, through a group of Chasers vying for control of the Quaffle. Ginny reacted an instant faster than Harry, and turned to follow it, weaving her way through the other players, and closing on the Snitch. Harry wasn't far behind her, and started to close again. 

Hermione made the Snitch reverse directions. This time Harry and Ginny both seemed to react at the same time as they came around to chase it, and now Harry had the better position on it. He started to draw closer, and reached out his hand. 

The Snitch swerved away. Harry was caught a touch off balance, and when he recovered and turned to follow he found Ginny was ahead of him again. He started to draw up beside her. Ginny swerved sideways, bumping into him…hard. 

"If that's the way you want to play this!" said Harry, and he bumped her back. They flew shoulder to shoulder bumping each other, trying to make the other lose their balance. Harry was surprised by just how hard Ginny was hitting him, and how well she was standing up to his hits. 

Harry finally hit Ginny hard enough to make her waver a bit on her broom, and by the time she had recovered he'd shot ahead. He closed in on the Snitch. This time when he got in range his hand flashed out and caught it before it could swerve away from him again. 

Harry pulled up on his broom, bringing it to a stop. When he'd slowed enough that the wind noise wasn't drowning out other sound he heard the cheers and whistles of the other people on the pitch. He saw that the practice game had stopped while everyone had watched him and Ginny chasing the Snitch around the pitch. 

Harry circled back toward where Ginny was sitting up on her broom applauding him too. "That was great!" he told her. "You were amazing!" 

"Not quite amazing enough," said Ginny. "You still won." 

"But I think it was mostly because I've got a faster broom!" said Harry. He looked around at the people still watching them, and glanced toward the setting sun. "I think we just brought this practice to a close." 

Harry swung himself around, and flew back toward where everyone was watching. "Alright! I think we're done for today! I want to see all of you back here at 1:00 tomorrow afternoon! Those of you on school brooms, get them back into the shed! And try not to leave such a mess this time!" 

* * *

The five of them returned to the castle together that night. Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione turned toward the Fat Lady's portrait when they got to the seventh floor. Dawn called them back. "Guys! There's something that we have to talk about." She nodded the other way. "And I haven't had a chance to show Ginny her training room yet. Come on." She walked down the hall toward the Room of Requirement, thinking about what she needed in it. The door was there when she arrived. 

Dawn pulled the door open and waved the others inside. Ginny was looking amazed by what she saw. "You had this all set up for me?" 

"Apparently, it wasn't that difficult…at least for us," said Dawn. "I'm sure that someone worked very hard to create this room. Harry tells me it takes whatever form you need, when you need it. This is pretty much a copy of one of Buffy's old training rooms." 

Ginny looked at a wall rack full of knives, swords and axes. "I'm really going to learn to use all of these?" 

"Eventually," said Dawn. "But we'll be starting with the basics. Hand to hand and stuff before we move up to weapons, but there's something else we have to talk about now. I don't think Ginny should be a Chaser." 

"_What?_" cried three voices together. Harry, Ron and Hermione all started talking at once. "Why do you say that?" "What do you know?" "You'd never even heard of Quidditch a month ago!" They kept yelling at her. 

Ginny remained silent and looked unhappy. Dawn waited for the others to quiet down. "Why don't you explain yourself," said Harry coldly when Ron and Hermione had run down. 

Dawn pushed the copy of the target dummy Xander had made out into the center of the floor. "You're right. I don't know much about Quidditch, but I know a lot more about Slayers than you guys do." She patted the dummy on the shoulder. "This is Oscar by the way." She walked over to a shelf by the wall and took the special item she'd requested when calling up the room from it. She walked over to Harry and handed him the Quaffle. "Let's pretend that Oscar is the other team's Keeper, and he was fast enough to block your shot. Throw the Quaffle at him. As hard as you can." 

Harry frowned at Dawn for a moment, but he did as he was told. He let the Quaffle fly and it hit Oscar squarely in the chest. He was knocked back across the room, tumbling across the floor. 

"Okay!" said Dawn. She went to pick up Oscar off the floor. "When I was watching you guys tonight I saw Ginny almost knock Ron off his broom when he blocked one of her shots." She pushed Oscar back into position. "Would you say that Ginny threw the Quaffle much harder than Harry did just now?" she asked. 

"Maybe a little," said Ron. "Not much though." 

"I asked Ginny to be really careful, not to throw too hard tonight," said Dawn. "Were you careful Ginny?" 

"Yeah," said Ginny. "That one shot got away from me a bit though. I remembered to tone it down after that." 

"But it still wasn't as hard as you could throw, was it?" 

"No," said Ginny. 

Dawn retrieved the Quaffle and tossed it to her. "Okay, it's your turn. Oscar is the other team's Keeper. As hard as you can. I mean it. They have to see it. You have to see it." 

Ginny threw the Quaffle. Oscar _exploded_ when it hit his chest. Stuffing flew in every direction. Bits of wood from his shattered frame were scattered around the room. 

There was a stunned silence following the sound of the last pieces of Oscar bouncing to a stop on the floor. Dawn walked over and picked up the Quaffle. It was flattened. It had ruptured from the force of the impact. She came back and handed it to a stunned Ron. "Now imagine what might have happened if Ginny had gotten a little more carried away tonight. That was just a practice. In the heat of a game she could kill someone." 

"So I can't play Quidditch," said Ginny. "Being a Slayer sucks." 

"Talk to Buffy about it sometime, when she comes to visit," said Dawn. "Sometimes it sucks a lot… But I didn't say you couldn't play Quidditch. I said you couldn't play Chaser." 

"Huh?" 

"I think we saw tonight that you're as good a Seeker as Harry. He said it himself, the only reason he beat you is that he had a faster broom." 

"But Harry's the Seeker!" said Ron. 

"Does he have to be?" asked Dawn. 

"The team Captain, really ought to be on the team." 

"But he doesn't have to be the Seeker does he." 

"What am I supposed to do?" asked Harry. 

Dawn looked around at them all. She was surprised that none of them seemed to get it. They all had Harry so firmly tied to the Seeker spot that they couldn't imagine him in any other position. 

"Lord knows I'm not an expert," said Dawn. "But to these rather inexperienced eyes, watching over the last couple of practice sessions, Harry looked like a pretty good Chaser too." 

"What?" asked Ron. 

"Hermione had me keeping count of everything tonight. Received passes caught, received passes missed. Thrown passes on target, thrown passes off target. Passes intercepted. Pass interceptions made. Goals scored, goal attempts blocked. I kept count for Harry too. The only one who was doing better than him was Ginny." 

"You're saying I could play Chaser," said Harry. 

"Why not?" asked Dawn. "Ginny becomes the Seeker, where her Slayer abilities are less likely to kill someone, and we can handicap her a bit by giving her a slightly slower broom to keep things fair for the other teams." 

Ron, Harry and Ginny all exchanged a look. "But my new broom is the second fastest in the school," said Ginny. 

"I think that's handicap enough," said Dawn. "The other Seekers can get faster brooms if they think it'll help them." 


	29. Tryouts

Dawn slept in on Saturday morning. She didn't get out of bed until nine. (She was a little bemused that she now considered getting up at nine to be 'sleeping in.') Ginny and Hermione were already gone when she got up, and went to have her morning shower. 

There was no sign of any of her friends in the common room either, so Dawn went down to the Great Hall on her own. She found Hermione at the Gryffindor table with Parvati and a couple of other girls that she didn't know very well. "Where's Ron and Harry?" she asked. 

"Slytherin are having tryouts for a couple of positions on their team this morning," said Hermione. "They're down at the pitch, checking them out. Ginny's with them." 

"So what do people who _aren't_ mad about Quidditch do for fun around here?" asked Dawn. 

"There's lots to read in the library," said Hermione. 

Dawn saw Parvati and the other girls roll their eyes. "Uh-huh. And I spend enough time there doing homework. What else?" 

"There's hanging out with your friends, lots of clubs for people interested in other things besides Quidditch," said Parvati. "We get to go down to Hogsmeade a couple of weekends each term." 

"Only a couple of weekends?" asked Dawn. 

"Seventh years can go pretty much any time they like," said Hermione. "Once they're of age… You should be able to go too." 

"I'm of age?" asked Dawn. 

"Wizards consider seventeen to be 'of age,'" said Hermione. "As far as the wizard world is concerned, you're an adult." 

"Cool!" said Dawn. "But you guys are all still sixteen, right?" 

"My sixteenth birthday is still a couple of weeks away," said Hermione. "It's on the nineteenth." 

"So, I'd be wandering around town without any of my friends. I think I'd rather stay here." 

* * *

They stayed in the Great Hall, just hanging out and talking about stuff, all morning. Harry, Ron and Ginny came in just as lunch was starting. "So how does the Slytherin team look?" asked Dawn. 

"Their new Keeper isn't anywhere near as good as Ron," said Ginny. 

"Yeah, but they've picked up a Chaser who looks like he might have potential," said Harry. "How'd you guys spend your morning?" 

"Oh, just hanging out," said Dawn. 

Jack and Andrew joined them, and they spent the lunch discussing the plan for the tryouts. Hermione had more forms prepared, with everyone's names already filled in. Instead of her and Dawn doing the scoring now it would be the other members of the team. Jack and Andrew were surprised to see Harry's name on the Chaser evaluation forms. 

"What's going on?" asked Jack. 

"You saw my little contest with Ginny last night, right?" asked Harry. Jack and Andrew nodded. "Well, we had a talk after it was over, and Ginny wants to be Seeker. I've been doing it for five years, and I'd like to try playing Chaser. You've seen what Ginny can do. She beat Summerby and Cho last year, and Cho can beat Malfoy, so I know Ginny can too…and she's gotten a lot better over the summer, so we've got no worries with her playing Seeker. 

"Wood and Angelina liked to mix things up in practices sometimes, so I've played Chaser with the old team. I'm pretty good at it. I've been working with the new kids during the practice sessions, and I know I'm every bit as good as they are, so I'm trying out for Chaser." 

"Captains don't try out," said Andrew. 

"This one is," said Harry. "My playing Seeker doesn't give me an automatic bye into one of the Chaser slots. I have to be seen to earn it. I want you all to mark me just like you'd mark the others." 

"What if you don't make the grade?" asked Jack. 

"Then I'll be really, really embarrassed, and Ron can try his hand at captaining," said Harry. 

Dawn put her arm around Harry. "Don't worry. You'll make the team." 

"Thanks," said Harry. 

"You know he's just feigning insecurity to get hugs from you, right?" asked Ron. 

Dawn put on an expression of mock surprise. "Why Ron! How could you accuse your best friend of such devious behaviour!" 

"Because I've been watching him be devious for five years," said Ron. 

They finished their lunches, and got up from the table. It was nearly time to head out to the Quidditch pitch for the Gryffindor tryouts. Harry saw Dennis Creevey sitting a little way down the table with Bruce Lightbody and Lindsey Fulford—the other two Gryffindor's trying out for the Seeker spot. He walked over to them. "You guys better get moving. The tryout starts in fifteen minutes." 

None of them looked very happy. "What's the point?" asked Lindsey. "We aren't anywhere near as good as you or Ginny." 

"The point is that one of you is going to be our reserve Seeker," said Harry. "Ginny wasn't born good. She got good through lots of practice. I've been watching you. With practice you can be just as good as she is. We need to get you practicing _now_ so you'll be ready when you're needed to take Ginny's place. Now get off your duffs, and go get your brooms! I want to see all of you down on the pitch before I get there!" 

Dennis, Bruce and Lindsey all jumped to their feet and ran out of the hall. 

"You're turning into a regular Captain Bligh," said Ron behind Harry. 

Harry looked around at Ron, a puzzled look on his face. "Where did you hear about Captain Bligh?" Ron was usually the last person to come up with any Muggle references. 

"What?" asked Ron. "Everyone knows about Todd Bligh! He was captain of the Chudley Cannons from 1926 to 32. It was the last time they even came close to winning the league!" 

* * *

There were quite a few people in the stands when Harry arrived at the Quidditch pitch. Most of the members of the other house teams were all there, no doubt checking out what sort of competition Gryffindor would be this year. Most of Gryffindor was there, including Professor McGonagall. Hagrid, Professor Lupin, and Madam Hooch were there too. If he was about to make a fool of himself as a Chaser, he'd have a big audience. 

He looked away from the stands, putting the people watching out of his mind. He found doing that to be much easier now, since he'd been taking his Occlumency lessons with Dumbledore. He just shunted all those thoughts aside, and didn't let his mind dwell on them. 

He turned his attention back to the pitch, looking it over to make sure that everyone was there who was supposed to be there. He saw that Dennis, Bruce and Lindsey were all there, and chasing a bird—Harry thought it might be some sort of swallow—around the pitch as if it were the Snitch. He remembered that in the early years of the game they had indeed used a bird—the Golden Snidget—instead of the Snitch, until it had been nearly driven to extinction, and the Snitch was substituted. The Snidget was now a protected species, its numbers still not having recovered. 

Harry blew his whistle and called for everyone who was there to try out to come over to him. He also told a couple of kids who were flying around the pitch on their brooms, but weren't there for the tryouts, to clear off it. 

Harry started by explaining to everyone how they were going to be scored. They would be going through all the drills they had been doing in the practices, and the members of the team would be keeping track of how well they did, as Dawn and Hermione had been doing during the practices. 

"Now, some of you may have heard that there's been a bit of a change," announced Harry. "We all saw how well Ginny Weasley did against me chasing that practice Snitch last night, so we've decided that _she_ is going to be our Seeker this year." Harry couldn't help hearing the gasp of surprise that came from the audience behind him. "That leaves me trying out for Chaser…and I am trying out for that spot just like the rest of you. I'll be scoring those of you who are trying for Keeper, Beaters, and Seeker, but I won't be scoring the Chasers. We're going to be scored by Ron, Ginny, Jack and Andrew. For those of you trying out for Keeper: don't try to get on my good side by letting me score against you. It won't help. And for the Beaters…If you manage to knock me off my broom during your offensive drills, I might give you bonus points." 

Harry reached into his pocket. "For the three of you trying out for Seeker, we have this…" Harry held up the Golden Snitch. Its wings beating rapidly, trying to escape from his grasp. "When I let go of it, it's going to fly off and disappear. It is going to be reappearing about a dozen times over the next three hours, and when it does, all three of you are going to be trying to catch it…just as you were trying to catch that poor bird a few minutes ago, and in the future I don't want to see any of you doing anything like that again!" Harry glared at his three Seeker candidates, and saw that they were all looking suitably guilty. 

"Alright! Let's get this show on the road!" Harry released the Golden Snitch. It took off, flying a quick circuit around them all, its wings beating so rapidly it sounded like a humming bird, before it flew off and disappeared. 

* * *

Dawn and Hermione sat behind the members of the Quidditch team watching each exercise along with them. When each exercise completed they collected the score sheets from the team members to tabulate the results. It was plain to them very quickly that Harry had no worries about making the grade as a Chaser. He was clearly much better than the others. The choice for the other two Chaser positions was a lot tougher, as was the choice for the various reserve spots. 

Every once in a while there would be a sudden scramble among the Seekers as the Snitch appeared and they all started chasing after it. The first time it happened everyone trying out for the other spots on the team stopped what they were doing to watch, until Harry blew his whistle and started to yell at them. "_What do you think you're doing?_ _The game doesn't stop when the Snitch shows up!_ _A Keeper who stops to gawk at the Seekers is going to have the Quaffle flying past them!_ _A Chaser's liable to have a Bludger take his head off!_ _A Beater could let one if his Chasers have their head taken off!_" 

Everyone scrambled to get back to their drill: three Chasers practicing an attack on a Keeper while two opposing Beaters tried to stop them. Harry watched the Seekers chase the Snitch. Lindsey and Dennis were neck and neck with Bruce close behind them. They followed it right through the middle of the group of Chasers and Beaters. Harry was happy to see that they continued to concentrate on their current drill, with enough awareness of the Seekers to get out of their way. 

It was close between Lindsey and Dennis, with Bruce slowly falling farther behind them. In the end it was Dennis who came up with the Snitch…mainly because it zigged instead of zagged. If the Snitch had gone the other way it would have been Lindsey. 

Dennis was very pleased with himself. He started to do a victory lap around the pitch until Harry yelled at him. "_We all saw it Dennis! Let it go!_" 

Dennis released the Snitch and it flew off and vanished again. He resumed cruising around over the pitch, looking for it to reappear. Harry watched how he moved, always cruising around, looking in every direction, never letting himself get distracted by the action going on below him, but not unaware of it either. He dodged Bludgers that came flying his way more than once. 

Harry turned his attention to Lindsey. She was flying much the same way as Dennis. Both of them kept their eyes moving, systematically sweeping and resweeping the entire pitch looking for the Snitch. 

Bruce was a different story. There really didn't seem to be any method to how he moved. Sometimes he'd go a couple of minutes without ever looking behind him to see if the Snitch might be back there. He would become engrossed with the drills going on below him, becoming more of a spectator than a participant at times. Other times, he'd attach himself to Dennis or Lindsey, following them around, hoping they'd lead him to the Snitch. Harry was familiar with the tactic. Malfoy had tried to use it against him from time to time. 

It was Harry's turn to take the field, so he put the Seekers out of his mind and flew out to take his turn in the drill. He, Seamus and Lavender maneuvered together, passing the Quaffle back and forth, attempting to get one of them into the scoring area, while the Beaters tried to keep them out. 

On one attack Harry, Lavender and Seamus flew down the field together, passing the Quaffle back and forth, trying to keep the Beaters guessing about who would make the actual attempt to score. Harry was in the center with Lavender to his right and Seamus to his left. Harry could see that the Beaters were concentrating on him, considering him to be the most serious threat. As they closed on the goals he passed the Quaffle to Lavender. One of the beaters moved to cut her off, while the other stayed in front of Harry in case Lavender passed the Quaffle back. Harry turned, moving closer to Lavender, and the Beater guarding him followed, putting Seamus entirely into the clear. Lavender passed the Quaffle across to him. Her pass was right on target, but Seamus fumbled the catch. The Keeper, Christine Bedley, had moved out, cutting off his angle by the time he had recovered and was in perfect position to block his shot. 

Harry recovered the Quaffle and they returned to the center of the field to reform and start a new attack. 

* * *

The tryout went on all afternoon. Everyone was getting tired toward the end, which was one of the things Harry wanted. Quidditch games could go on for hours. He wanted to see what everyone's stamina was like. How well their performance held up in the long haul. Four o'clock finally came and Harry started to raise his whistle to his lips to signal the end. He stopped when he spotted a glint of gold. The Snitch was back, and its position was interesting. It was about twenty feet below and behind Dennis Creevey, which was pretty much the hardest place for him to be able to see it. Bruce was shadowing Dennis again, and only watching to see what Dennis did, he wasn't looking for the Snitch at all. Lindsey was all the way across the pitch, over three hundred feet away. 

The contest between Dennis and Lindsey had been close all afternoon. She'd caught the Snitch five times, and he'd caught it six. Every time it had been a close thing between them, except when fortune had caused the Snitch to appear in a position that gave one or the other a clear advantage. Bruce had managed to catch it once. When it had popped up almost right under his nose at a time when he wasn't shadowing Dennis or Lindsey. 

This time Dennis had a clear positional advantage…if he saw the Snitch. Lindsey was in a much better position to see it though. 

Lindsey'd spotted the Snitch. Her broom suddenly accelerated, and she started to dive. _Not_ toward the Snitch but at a place about half way between her and Dennis, in the shadows of the stands at the western edge of the pitch. Harry smiled. She was feinting, trying to draw Dennis and Bruce away from where the Snitch really was, to give herself a chance to get it…and it looked like it was working. Dennis was accelerating and diving too, heading for the same place. Harry could see his eyes were trying to probe the shadows, and find the Snitch. Bruce was a little slower off the mark, but he was chasing after Dennis too. 

Harry watched as they all dived toward the ground. He could see that Dennis was starting to look around more. He knew he should be able to see the Snitch himself if it was really where Lindsey seemed to be going. He was wondering if she was trying to bluff him. Harry knew that he only had a couple more seconds to realize what had happened, and get himself turned around. 

He didn't figure it out in time. Lindsey suddenly turned and rocketed upward. Dennis reacted instantly, but it was too late. All of his momentum was going in the wrong direction, and by the time he got himself turned around Lindsey had a commanding lead that he couldn't hope to make up. That didn't stop him from trying though. He chased after Lindsey, and Harry could hear him cursing his stupidity. 

Bruce just threw up his hands and gave up. He didn't even bother trying to join in the chase. 

It really wasn't much of a chase to join. Lindsey caught the Snitch easily before Dennis could get anywhere close to it. Harry blew a long blast on his whistle. "_Lindsey, hold on to that Snitch!_ _We're done!_ _Everybody come over here!_" Harry flew over and landed in front of the team of judges. He waited for everyone to come and land in front of him. 

"I'd like to thank you all for coming out today. You all have worked really hard and Ron, Jack, Andrew, Ginny and I have got some tough decisions to make. It won't be easy picking out the best of you, because you're all pretty good. I want you all to go have a nice, hot shower, and a good supper. We'll be announcing our decision in the common room at eight o'clock tonight. I'll see you all then." 

Everyone started to climb onto their brooms to fly back up to the castle. "Oh, Lindsey, don't forget to give me the Snitch," said Harry. "You can't keep it." 


	30. Team Selection

Harry told the rest of the team to meet him in the Transfiguration classroom in half an hour. Professor McGonagall had given them permission to use it to discuss the team selection. Harry went off to have a shower of his own. Seamus and Dean were still in the baths of their dorm room, so he gathered up some clean clothes and went to use the Prefect's Bathroom. One perq of being Quidditch Captain was that he was allowed to use it too. 

* * *

The rest of the team had gotten to the Transfiguration classroom ahead of Harry. Dawn and Hermione were there too. They were just finishing up the final tally of everyone's scores when Harry arrived. 

Hermione handed Harry the parchment with the final summary. "Here you go. I'm glad I'm not the one who's going to have to make these decisions. It really is close between some of them." She looked back at Dawn. "Come on, let's leave these guys to their work." 

Dawn and Hermione were pounced on by nearly everyone who had tried out when they got back to the Gryffindor common room. They all wanted to know what their scores were, and who was going to make the team. 

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" said Hermione. "First of all, the team selection isn't going to be based on just your scores. Second, we've been sworn to secrecy! We can't tell you what anyone's scores were." 

"Come on Hermione!" said Lavender. "You have to be able to give us some clue!" 

"We can't!" said Hermione. "I'll tell you this: it's close. Harry wasn't kidding when he told you down on the pitch that some of the decisions were going to be tough." 

"What about some of the not-tough decisions?" asked Christine. "Can you tell us which positions they're not having trouble making up their minds about?" 

"No," said Hermione. "We can't tell you anything." 

"What about Harry?" asked Dean. "Did _he_ make his team?" Several people laughed at the question. 

Hermione and Dawn exchanged a look. It really had been quite apparent to everyone watching that Harry was the best among the Chaser candidates. 

"I think it's fairly safe to say that there is a very good chance that Harry will be one of the people chosen to play Chaser," said Dawn. "But don't quote me on that." 

Dawn and Hermione quickly discovered that they weren't going to be left alone in the common room, so they escaped to the library to get a start on a term project that they had been assigned for Muggle Studies. They were to adapt a piece of Muggle technology to work in the wizarding world. 

"I want to get my computer working," said Dawn. 

"I don't know," said Hermione. "The more complex the device, the harder it is. I don't think that anyone has ever managed to get something as complex as a computer to work amidst all the interference here at Hogwarts." 

"Have they really tried?" asked Dawn. "Computers are pretty new. Microprocessors have only been around for a couple of decades, and most people in the wizarding world wouldn't be interested in getting one working anyway. Maybe some Muggle born kids might have tried, but their Muggle education pretty much stopped when they got their invitation to Hogwarts. They don't know much about how computers are supposed to work." 

"And you do?" asked Hermione. 

"Well…not so much," said Dawn. "But I probably know more than the rest of the school combined, and I have friends who _do_ know. Willow's a wiz with the science stuff, as well as being a really powerful Wicca." 

"Is it fair to bring in outside help?" 

"We can ask her for advice," said Dawn. "It wouldn't be any different than asking one of the Professors. As long as we still do the work." 

"What if we can't get it to work?" asked Hermione. 

"We do it in stages," said Dawn. "We're going to need electricity for the computer, so we start with getting a generator working. That shouldn't be too hard. Get a portable generator, and spin it with magic, instead of a gas motor, or something like that. Then we move up, get a simple transistor radio to work…that was one of the suggestions Professor Tellurian made, which means she thinks it can be done. Once we've got that working, we move on to more complicated electronics." 

"You've really thought about this, haven't you?" asked Hermione. 

"I _want_ to get my computer working," said Dawn. "Writing by hand sucks. I can type a lot faster than I can write legibly." 

"So, I guess we start by finding everything in the library about _why_ Muggle electronics don't work in Hogwarts." 

"And I ask Willow to put together a package of books on Electronic Theory for Dummies to send to us." 

Hermione frowned at Dawn. "We're not dummies." 

"Sorry," said Dawn. "Muggle geek culture reference." 

They spent the next half hour at the library's card catalogue, looking for all the books they could find on the effects of magic on Muggle electronics…there weren't that many of them. By the time they had put their reading list together, and found the books, it was time to go to dinner. 

* * *

Everyone in Gryffindor was crowded into the common room at eight o'clock. Harry, Ron, Ginny, Jack and Andrew were the last to arrive. They came in wearing their team robes, and stood together in front of the fireplace with Harry a little in front. 

Harry looked out at the crowd of expectant faces. He wasn't used to talking in front of so many people, and felt a brief twinge of panic. He felt for an instant that he'd rather look Voldemort in the eye than all these people…especially the ones he knew he was about to disappoint. 

"Ahem." He cleared his throat. "Okay, er…you all know why we're here, and I want to thank everyone who tried out for the team again. It was really tough making some of these decisions, you were all so good, but we had to make them…so here it is…er, I'm going to tell you who the reserves are first…so… This was one of our toughest choices. Our new reserve Seeker is Lindsey Fulford!" 

Everyone applauded, and the people around Lindsey pounded her back, and shook her hand. Harry was glad to see that one of the first people to congratulate her was Dennis Creevey. It had been a tough choice between them. 

"Okay, congratulations Lindsey! Next, our new reserve Keeper is… Christine Bedley!" 

There was more applause, and Christine collected congratulations. 

"Way to go Christine! Next on our list, our reserve Beaters are Brian Malette and James McCarthy!" 

The two big seventh year boys stood and bowed to all the people applauding them. Harry looked at Randall Dey, and Allan Wight, the two second year boys who had also been trying out for Beater, and saw the disappointment on their faces, but they were clapping with everyone else. 

"Good show Brian and James!" said Harry. "Now we come to the positions that I didn't have any say in. I mean it, if you have any problems with the choices you have to blame these guys." Harry pointed to the other team members behind them. "I was working on some Potions homework while they chose the Chasers, so here they are. Our three new reserve Chasers are: Dean Thomas, Natalie McDonald and Trish Maat!" 

The applause for the reserve Chasers was just as loud as it had been for the other positions, but Harry could see that the students named weren't quite as happy about being selected for those spots. They knew that meant that the Chaser positions had gone to someone else. 

"Which brings us to our final selections," said Harry, "and we've got some robes for a couple of you." Ron and Ginny held up the extra team robes they were carrying. 

"The first new member of our team is…_Lavender Brown!_ Come get your robes!" 

Lavender squealed with delight as everyone cheered her. She ran forward and Ginny helped her get her new robes on. 

"The second new member is…_Colin Creevey!_" 

Colin yelled, and jumped up and down in his excitement as he came forward. Ron proceeded to put his new robes on him…backwards. Colin was so excited that it took him a little while to notice. 

"Alright Colin! Okay…" Harry looked really embarrassed. "…I guess that by now most of you have figured out that the last choice for Chaser is…well…me." 

That announcement got just as much applause as all of the others. Harry just blushed from all the attention. 

"Okay!" said Harry, after the last round of applause had died down. "I have a couple more announcements to make! First of all, for our new reserves, and the rest of the team: practices are Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons at four! I expect to see you all there! If you miss a practice, you better have a pretty good excuse, and I know all about _Weasley's Skiving Snack Boxes_ and if I catch any of you trying to use one to duck a practice you're off the team!" There was a general round of laughter. "Next, the Friday practice is open to everyone, even if you didn't make the team. Anyone wanting to improve their skills, just for fun, or because they hope to make the team themselves in a year or two is welcome to join us!" 

Harry looked around at everyone. "There's just one thing left, and I hope Dobby remembers his cue!" He clapped his hands three times and trays of party foods and drinks appeared on the common room tables. "To quote Professor Dumbledore: 'Tuck in!'" 

You wouldn't think that the students of Gryffindor had just eaten a rather large dinner a couple hours earlier they way they descended on the food tables. Everyone started talking and joking, and coming around to give their congratulations to the new team members. Colin Creevey made his brother Dennis run up to his dorm room to get his camera so he could have his picture taken in his Quidditch robes with the rest of the team. Harry made sure that Dennis got pictures of all the reserves too. 

Once the pictures were taken the 'old hands' on the team quickly shed their robes. They were much too warm to be wearing inside the common room, but no one would let Lavender or Colin take theirs off. They had to keep wearing them the rest of the night. A little later, once she had worked up a good sweat, Lavender pointed out that Harry really ought to be wearing _his_ robes too, since he'd just qualified as a Chaser. The rest of the team quickly agreed, and Jack and Andrew grabbed Harry before he could escape, and Ron forced his robes back over his head. 

Harry sought out Randall and Allan, the two second year boys who had tried out for Beater, early in the party. They weren't looking quite as happy as most of the other Gryffindors. He pulled them aside for a bit of a talk. "I really want to see you guys at the Friday practices." 

"Why?" asked Randall. 

"Because I expect you two to be on the team next year," said Harry. "Jack, Andrew, Brian and James are all going to graduate, the Beater positions will be completely open. You two have the skill—confidentially, on a pure skill level, you're already better than Brian and James—but you need strength to be a Beater too. Give you guys a year to grow, and I think you'll be every bit as good as Fred and George were as Beaters. If you show up on Mondays and Wednesdays I won't chase you away either." 

"You think so?" asked Allan Wight. He'd worshiped George Weasley. He'd been the first in line every time the Weasleys had asked for some volunteers to try one of their new products. 

"I know so," said Harry. "Now go grab yourselves some of those pumpkin pasties, before they're all gone!" 

Randall and Allan left to get themselves some food, and Harry went looking for Dennis Creevey. 

Harry told Dennis that he wanted him at the Friday practices too, and he could come to the others. The Seeker spot wasn't as open though, so he couldn't be as encouraging. Ginny still had three years before she graduated, and Lindsey another year after that. "But it was _really_ close between you and Lindsey. You keep working and you could take her place as the reserve." 

The last person Harry had to talk to was the conversation he had been dreading the most. Of the six people who had tried out for Chaser, Seamus Finnigan was the only one who hadn't made the team, or been selected as a reserve. He found him sitting with Parvati Patil. "Hey, Seamus, can I talk to you for a second?" 

Seamus smiled at Harry. "Is this the part where you tell me you're really sorry I didn't make it? Don't bother. I know I sucked." 

"You weren't _that_ bad." said Harry. 

"Yes I was," said Seamus. "I fumbled half the passes thrown my way. It was more of a tribute to the skill of the catchers that half of the passes I threw were caught by anyone, and I could only score against a blind Keeper riding one of Filch's floor brooms." 

"And again: you weren't that bad," said Harry. 

"Yes I was, but thanks for trying to let me down easy." Seamus put an arm around Parvati's shoulder. "I only tried out to attract the chicks anyway. And speaking of chicks…" Harry saw that he was looking toward the stairway that led to the girls' dorms. 

Dawn had gone up to her room to change into 'appropriate party clothes.' When she came back down to the common room she was wearing her black leather pants and a light blue baby t-shirt. She stopped at the base of the stairs and looked around for Harry. She saw him with Seamus and Parvati. Harry was turning to look her way, and Parvati whacked Seamus on the shoulder. 

Dawn walked across the room to Harry. Every boy in the room who had reached puberty was looking at her by the time she got to him. Someone had tuned to a music program on Wizard Wireless. "Wanna dance?" Dawn asked Harry. 

Harry looked embarrassed. "Er…I don't dance much." 

Dawn grabbed hold of his hand. "Nothing to it." She pulled him toward an open spot on the floor. "Next to Quidditch, it's a breeze!" 

Dawn started dancing, and Harry tried to match her moves. He felt like he was failing miserably. There was no way he could emulate the suppleness of the way Dawn could move her body. She didn't seem to mind his clumsiness at all though. They were soon joined by other couples. Ginny was dancing with Dean Thomas, and Harry was a little surprised to see Ron and Hermione taking a turn. 

Students from other houses started to show up too. The Fat Lady had been told to let everyone in tonight, and word had spread about the party in Gryffindor. Most of the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff Quidditch teams came. Harry saw that Cho was there, and she was dancing with Michael Corner. He was surprised to see Neville dancing with someone he thought at first was Parvati, but he realized quickly it was Padma. Parvati was dancing with Seamus. 

There were even a few Slytherins. Malfoy and his crowd didn't make an appearance, but Harry recognised Blaise Zabini (He'd learned her name since she became Dawn's Potions partner.) and Eric Hamelin. (He wasn't happy to see that Eric was handing out money to some people. Apparently he'd had a pool going on who would make the team.) He saw another Slytherin who seemed to be spending a lot of time with Laurie Davis, one of the Ravenclaw Chasers. Dawn told him his name was Rob Harding. Harry was a little surprised that she knew who he was. 

Hermione chased all the first years off to bed at ten o'clock, and then chased the second years away at eleven. Harry had had a quiet word with her first, and she seemed to miss Allan and Randall when she chased the second years away. 

A vote was taken at midnight, and it was decided by a narrow margin to let Harry, Lavender and Colin out of their robes. Ron's comment about the body odour from all their sweat might have had something to do with the way the decision came out. 

Harry found himself dancing with Dawn again a little while later. It was a slower song, and they were closer together, holding each other gently. "I don't know what Ron was talking about," said Dawn softly. "I think you smell good." 

"Oh, now I know you're lying," said Harry. "I stink!" 

"No!" said Dawn. "You smell like good, clean, sweat." She moved herself closer to him. "I like it." 

Harry was aware of the smell of Dawn's perfume, accenting her own scent. He felt his body responding to her odour, and the closeness of her. He liked the way she made him feel, but it made him nervous too. He pulled back a bit. 

Dawn felt Harry pull back, and she understood it. Her body was sending her signals that her brain wasn't used to dealing with. She'd been attracted to guys before: she still remembered her crushes on Xander and Spike…and there was that whole thing with the guy in the jacket, but what she was feeling with Harry was different, stronger and more real, and it scared her a little bit too. 

The song ended and Harry and Dawn returned to one of the sofas to sit down opposite Ron and Hermione. Dawn was a little surprised to hear they were talking about _The Lord of the Rings_. She gave Harry an inquiring look. 

"Oh, I let Ron read them after I was done." said Harry. "I think they were the biggest books I've ever seen him read, and they didn't even have pictures in them!" 

"I should have gotten the Deluxe Illustrated Set," said Dawn. 

"What do you think Dawn?" asked Ron. "Was Tolkien a wizard? I think he must have been." 

"But his magic doesn't have much to do with the way wizard magic works," said Hermione. "No one uses wands. Gandalf and the other wizards have staffs, but no one else uses anything like them…and the wizards aren't even human anyway…they're a different class of being, like the elves and dwarves and hobbits." 

"Wait a minute," said Ron. "Where do you get that from?" 

"_The Silmarillion_," said Dawn. "It's another one of his books. Has the full stories of some of the legends and stuff mentioned in _The Lord of the Rings_. Gandalf and Sauron are really the same sort of being. Light and Dark sides of the same coin." 

"Like Dumbledore and Voldemort," said Harry. "Sauron was defeated once, and came back. Voldemort was defeated once, and now he's back." 

"And like Sauron, Moldywart is going to get his ass kicked again!" said Dawn. 

"Hear, hear!" called out Ron. He raised a bottle of butterbeer. "To Moldywart getting his arse kicked!" He drank from it. 

"Moldywart's kicked arse!" called out a dozen people around the room, and they drank too. Then half of them looked a little puzzled as they tried to figure out who Ron meant. A couple of them looked scared when they worked it out, and then they let out little nervous laughs. 

* * *

It was getting late. The common room had mostly emptied out. Everyone from the other houses had gone. Harry found that Dawn had somehow maneuvered them into a quiet corner where they could sit together in a little privacy. "So, it was, er, a good party." 

"Yeah, it was," said Dawn. 

"And, er, you're a good dancer." 

"I like dancing. It's fun. The music was a little weird though. I don't think I'd heard any of it before." 

"Wizards have their own music," said Harry. "There isn't much cross over between wizard and Muggle music." 

"It's good," said Dawn. "Good for dancing." 

"I'm not much of a dancer." 

"Oh, sure you are!" said Dawn. "You just need a little practice. You did very well." 

"So, er, it's getting late. I think we should be going to bed soon." Harry suddenly blushed. "Er, not that we…ah…" 

Dawn smiled at him. "I know what you meant. Harry, I feel myself channelling my sister: stop yacking and kiss me!" 

Harry didn't need any more encouragement. He leaned toward Dawn and gently pressed his lips to hers. He felt her arm going around his back, pulling him closer. He rested his hand on her hip. 

Harry felt Dawn's mouth opening, and then her tongue brushed against his lips. He didn't know what to do, but somehow, without him willing it, his mouth opened too and his tongue came forward to meet hers. Dawn pulled him tighter against her, and he could feel her heart beating against his chest, its rhythm in syncopation with the pounding of his own heart. His hand moved down from her hip and around behind her. 

"I think we'll need some ice water," said Ron. 

Harry and Dawn pulled away from each other and looked up. They saw the entire Quidditch team was standing over them, and they both blushed furiously. 

Ron had a big grin on his face that went from ear to ear. "I hate to interrupt what looked like a really good snog, but everyone else has gone to bed. I think it's time for us all to call it a night." 

Dawn suddenly found herself yawning. "Oh…um…yeah. It is kinda late, isn't it?" 

Ginny pulled her up off the sofa. "Come on, let's go." She pulled Dawn toward the stairs leading up to their room. "See you guys in the morning." 

Dawn let herself be pulled up to her room. She was suddenly feeling very sleepy, but she didn't think she would be falling asleep too quickly tonight. 


	31. Training

Dear Buffy: 

The first week has been pretty hectic, with everyone starting classes and everything. The castle is a lot different when it's full of kids. Things have been going pretty good. I've made some new friends, so far mostly among the guys and girls on Harry's Quidditch team, but there are a few others. There's a really nice girl from Ravenclaw named Laurie Davis, and a Slytherin boy named Rob Harding. (Not all Slytherins are useless gits.) He seems to have a bit of a thing for Laurie. My lab partner in Potions is from Slytherin too, and she seems to be nice. 

Speaking of useless gits…I've had a couple more run-ins with that Malfoy berk. (See, Spike taught me some useful stuff after all! I got lots of words I can call Malfoy!) I've had to take his wand away from him twice now because he keeps trying to curse me with it. 

Ginny was concentrating on Quidditch tryouts last week, so we haven't started her training yet. She's the team Seeker now. (I only had to watch the first practice to see that Slayer strength and Quidditch Chaser were non-mixy things) but she's a really good Seeker too…just as good as Harry (I think Slayer reflexes have a lot to do with that) and Harry's a pretty good Chaser so I suggested they trade positions and it looks like that's going to work out real well. We're going to have Ginny's first real training session on Tuesday. Professor Lupin is going to be there too, so he can see how it's done. :) 

I hope Yanka finds you alright. She's supposed to be able to find you anywhere in the world, but if you've left Britain it could take her a while. Hope to hear from you soon. Give my love to Willow and Xander and Giles and everyone else. 

Love, Dawn.  
  


Dawn took her letter for Buffy, along with the one she'd written for Willow up to the Owlery. Yanka came right to her when she whistled, and Dawn tied the two letters to her legs. "Okay, Yanka. These are for Buffy and Willow. Deliver Willow's first. Buffy should be near her, but if she isn't Willow will know where to find her. Do you understand?" 

Yanka gave an indignant hoot, as if she thought Dawn had just insulted her by asking if she understood such rudimentary instructions. 

"I'm sorry," said Dawn. "Of course you understood." She fished some Owl Treats out of her pocket and fed them to her. "Okay, off you go!" 

A few quick strokes of Yanka's wings sent her flying out of the Owlery. Dawn watched her flying south, across the lake until she disappeared from sight. She turned and looked around the Owlery for Harry's snowy owl. "Hedwig? Are you here girl?" She reached into her pocket for more Owl Treats when she saw the white owl flying toward her. Hedwig landed on the perch that Yanka had just vacated. 

Dawn held out her hand with the treats in it. "Here, I didn't forget that I owed you." 

Hedwig hooted her thanks and pecked the treats from Dawn's hand. 

* * *

Yanka flew into the Great Hall with all the other owls delivering the mail at breakfast on Monday. She landed in front of Dawn with a couple of letters strapped to her legs. Dawn untied them and checked to see who they were from. One was from Buffy, and the other was from Willow. She opened Buffy's first, and quickly scanned through it. It was a fairly short letter just saying that everything was going well, everyone was okay, and that they all said to say "hi." It ended with a promise that Buffy would be coming back to Hogwarts "in a few weeks." 

Dawn put Buffy's letter away and opened the one from Willow. It contained the same sort of non-news that she'd gotten from Buffy, plus a promise to get the books Dawn wanted on micro-electronics, and that she'd send them along with Buffy when she came to visit. Dawn couldn't help noticing that everyone was being pretty vague about when Buffy's visit would be. Dawn showed the letter to Hermione before they went off to classes. 

* * *

Dawn and Ginny found Professor Lupin waiting for them in the Room of Requirement on Tuesday afternoon. He was wearing a sweat suit and was by the punching bag, hitting it rather ineffectually. Dawn thought it was a good thing he didn't know how to get much power into his punches, because the way he was holding his hands, he was liable to break a finger, or maybe his wrist if he ever did hit it hard. 

Harry, Ron and Hermione came in behind them. They'd been invited along to watch, and join in the exercises. They pulled off their school robes. Both Dawn and Ginny were dressed in the exercise clothes they'd gotten during their London shopping trip. Hermione had picked up training clothes for herself at the same time. Harry and Ron were just wearing blue jeans and t-shirts. 

Dawn had also brought along a duffle bag full of the pads and helmets and things they'd bought, but she wasn't planning on using any of them today. She was just moving them from her trunk so they'd be here when they did need them. 

Dawn went to the stack of floor pads, and started to spread them out. "Okay, the first thing we're going to work on is how to fall." 

"Fall?" asked Ginny. "Isn't that just something gravity does to you?" 

"It's something that gravity can _hurt_ you with if you don't do it right," said Dawn as she arranged the pads, making sure that the velcro tabs were all fastened. "If you know what you're doing you can fall onto a hard stone floor, and not hurt yourself. Here, I'll show you." She moved away onto a patch of bare floor. 

They all watched Dawn deliberately fall over backwards. She flung her arms back at the last moment, just before she was about to hit, and slapped her forearms against the floor before the rest of her body made contact with it. Then she kipped back up onto her feet. "See, the point of a breakfall is to take the impact of hitting the floor in the parts of the body best able to absorb it, and to spread it out over as large an area as possible. I didn't hit the floor first with my elbows, or my hands, because that concentrates the impact in one small area, which leads to broken bones, but by slapping the floor with my arms, they took most of the impact." 

Dawn moved back over onto the mats and knelt down on it. "We'll start with the front breakfall, from a kneeling position, and work up to standing breakfalls." They all knelt beside her. "Okay, it's important to hit the mat hard with your arms. If you just try to hold them stiff in front of you, you're gonna smack your face into the mat. Keep your chin tucked in, and your back curved, and fall forward like this." Dawn fell forward, and caught herself by slapping her forearms against the mat. She pushed herself back up onto her knees. "Now, you try it." 

They spent the next hour practicing front and back breakfalls. Dawn wasn't surprised that Ginny learned how to do them very quickly, a talent for this sort of thing was part of the Slayer package. Harry, Ron and Hermione picked it up quickly too. Professor Lupin wasn't doing as well, though Dawn was surprised by just how well he did do for someone his age. He worked hard, but there was no way he was going to be able to keep up with Ginny. It would be hard enough for someone his age to keep up with a normal fifteen year old girl, let alone a Slayer. 

When Dawn decided that everyone was sufficiently proficient at falling onto their faces and backs, at least for one lesson, she took them over to the punching bag, and gave them a brief lesson in the proper way to make a fist, and to throw a punch…mainly just to keep Professor Lupin from hurting himself if he came back and tried it again when she wasn't there. They called an end to the session with enough time for them all to go back to their rooms, and have a shower before it was time for dinner. 

* * *

They quickly fell into a routine. Ginny would have training sessions with Dawn and Professor Lupin on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, the days she didn't have Quidditch practice. Harry, Ron and Hermione would come too. After the first couple of lessons Lupin found he was mostly acting as an observer. 

They started into grappling, and throwing techniques in the second week, after everyone had become adept at the various breakfalls. Ginny was getting tired of falling and wanted to do something else. 

"Okay." Dawn stood facing Ginny on the mats. "Attack me. Try to grab me and throw me down onto the floor. No punching or kicking though." 

"You sure?" asked Ginny. 

"Yep, I'm sure," said Dawn. "Go for it." 

"Okay." Ginny moved in quickly, trying to grab Dawn. She wasn't entirely sure of what happened next, but she felt her feet going out from underneath her, and she was falling toward the mat. She did a perfect side breakfall as she hit it. Dawn hadn't let go of her though. She kept hold of Ginny's arm as she followed her down onto the mat. Ginny felt her arm being twisted around behind her. She was pinned face down on the floor, and unable to move. 

"Now," said Dawn. "There are times when all your Slayer speed and strength won't do you much good. The way I've got you now, I've got all the leverage advantages, there really isn't much you can do about it. If I put a little more pressure on your arm this way…" She twisted a bit, and Ginny hissed from a sudden pain in her shoulder. "…I can dislocate your shoulder. A little like this…" Dawn pressed, and Ginny felt the pressure building in her elbow. "…and I can pop your elbow." 

Dawn let go of Ginny, and they both got back to their feet. Ginny was rubbing her shoulder a bit. 

"I wanted to do that to you early," said Dawn. "After a couple of weeks, I don't expect that I'll ever be able to do anything like that again. Right now, you have all the strength and speed advantages, but you don't know how to use them. I don't have the strength or speed, but I've got the knowledge. Once you've got a little knowledge, you'll have all the advantages." 

They stood facing each other again. "Okay," said Dawn. "Come at me again, but slowly this time, and I'll show you what you did wrong, and what I did." 

Dawn had Ginny stop once she had grabbed her. "Okay, see now you're all off balance. I've got a few things I can do to you that don't take much strength at all." She demonstrated by pushing Ginny one way until she started to fall, and then catching her, and pushing her another way. "And it was even worse when you were moving because all your momentum was helping me do this!" Dawn pivoted, and slowly pulled Ginny through the flip she had done earlier. 

Ginny found herself lying on the mats again, with her arm firmly held immobile by Dawn. Dawn released her and they got back to their feet. "Okay, now you try it." Dawn grabbed hold of Ginny the way Ginny had grabbed her. "Take it slow, step by step, just the way I did it." 

Ginny did it just the way Dawn had done it, pulling and pivoting, lifting her up until she was balanced in the air, and then rolling a little more to drop her down onto the mat, following through to get Dawn into an armbar. 

"Good." Dawn slapped her free hand against the mat a couple of times. "That means I give up, and you can let go of me now." 

"Oh." Ginny let go of Dawn's arm. "Sorry." 

Dawn climbed back to her feet. "No, you did good. Let's try it again, only this time, full speed. You ready?" 

Ginny nodded and Dawn rushed at her. Ginny grabbed her and flipped her ot the mat, a lot harder than she had the first time. She grabbed Dawn's arm, and twisted it around into an armbar. She felt a pop, and Dawn cried out in pain. 

Ginny released her instantly and jumped to her feet. "Oh god! Sorry! What happened?" 

Dawn pushed herself up with her left arm until she was sitting on the mats, and hissed in pain. Her right arm was dangling by her side. Dawn grabbed her elbow to keep it from moving. "You dislocated my shoulder." 

"Oh god! I'm sorry!" 

"No, that's okay…these things happen." 

Professor Lupin was kneeling beside her. He took out his wand and touched it to her shoulder. "_Immobilus!_" Dawn felt her shoulder lock in place, unable to move. "There, that should hold it until we get you to Madam Pomfrey." 

"That feels better." Dawn held up her hand. "Could you give me a hand." Harry helped pull her up onto her feet. 

"I'm really sorry!" said Ginny. 

"Stop apologising already!" said Dawn. "It was an accident. Accidents happen. At least this time it's not broken." She tried to take a step toward the door, and swayed a bit on her feet. 

Harry moved quickly up to Dawn's left side and put an arm around her. "Here, lean on me." 

Dawn put her left arm across Harry's shoulders. "Yeah, that might be a good idea. So, Madam Pomfrey. You know, I still haven't really met her." 

Dawn continued to lean on Harry as they went down to the hospital wing. Professor Lupin followed them. "Poppy!" he called as they entered the hospital. "We've got a patient for you!" 

Dawn looked around curiously. She had missed being shown inside the hospital wing when she'd gotten the tour from Harry and Hermione during her first visit to Hogwarts, and was surprised by just how many beds there were. A long line of them covered with white sheets. None of them were occupied at the moment. "So you get a lot of sick people here?" 

"No," said Ginny. "I don't think I've ever seen more than four of them in use…and then it's usually Harry in one of them." 

Madam Pomfrey had come out of her office. "So what's happened to you then?" she asked Dawn. 

"Dislocated shoulder." 

"Oh! Well, come right over here!" She had Dawn sit on the edge of one of the beds. She looked up at Professor Lupin. "You used _Immobilus_ on it?" 

"That's right Poppy, and then we brought her straight here." 

Madam Pomfrey smiled. "So good to have a professor who doesn't try to treat the injuries himself." She pulled a screen across, to give her and Dawn some privacy, and then used her wand to make Dawn's t-shirt disappear. She looked at Dawn's shoulder closely. "Yes, it is dislocated." 

"I figured that out when it went 'pop,'" said Dawn. 

"Well just hold still for a moment." Madam Pomfrey pointed her wand at Dawn's shoulder. "_Analgetos!_" The pain went away. "_Restauro!_" Dawn felt her shoulder socket pop back into place. "There, good as new!" Another tap from Madam Pomfrey's wand and her t-shirt was back on her. 

Dawn rotated her arm experimentally. Her shoulder was still numb, but she seemed to have full mobility again. "Wow! That was quick! Thanks." 

"You are welcome, Miss Summers." Madam Pomfrey pulled aside the screen again. "Your shoulder will still be sore for a another day or so once the anesthetic spell wears off…as a reminder for you to be more careful at whatever you were doing that dislocated it in the first place, but you should have full use of your arm again. If you notice any problems, or the pain persists for more than twenty-four hours, come back and see me." 

* * *

Ginny seemed much more affected by Dawn's dislocated shoulder than Dawn was. At the start of their next training session on Thursday she was very reluctant to try to throw Dawn again. Dawn used her hesitations against her, to throw Ginny to the mat several times before she got over it. 

Ginny was learning to fight with the speed of a Slayer. Once she got over her hesitation problem she quickly learned the moves Dawn was teaching her. She rarely needed to be shown how to do something more than once, and after a few repetitions was executing moves flawlessly. Dawn was starting to think she had been overly optimistic when she told Ginny that she would only be able to successfully pin her for the first couple of weeks. By the end of their session Ginny was pinning Dawn as often as Dawn was pinning her. She still tended to be a little too careful about how she executed the various submission holds Dawn taught her. 

Sometimes Dawn let one of the others partner with Ginny, so she could stand back and watch, see what Ginny and they were doing right, and wrong. It also served as a humbling experience for Harry and Ron. Dawn didn't want them getting the idea that they were ready to put what they were learning into active use. 

* * *

On the afternoons that Harry and Ginny had Quidditch practice, Dawn would go jogging. She'd do a lap around the main grounds, starting by running down along the eastern shore of the lake until she reached the fringe of trees that separated the school grounds from the railway line and the town of Hogsmeade, then she'd turn east, moving across the lawn to edge of the Forbidden Forest before turning back north. She ran along beside the forest until she reached the paddock behind Hagrid's hut. She knew that Hagrid often had unpleasant things in his paddock, so she would follow the fence around it. 

Some days the little Trivet would appear on the other side of the fence, and run along beside her. Dawn thought that was strange, since there was nothing actually keeping the Trivet inside the fence. It could apparate across it without difficulty, or even jump it, if it wanted to. After the second time it happened she stopped to ask Hagrid about it when she reached his hut. She kept running on the spot as she talked to him. 

"She knows she's safe inside tha paddock," said Hagrid. "Trivets are very timid creatures. Even though she's jus' as safe anywhere on the grounds, she feels better inside tha fence." 

"But a Trivet can get away from almost anywhere can't it?" asked Dawn. 

"If you can grab hold of it, and keep hold, it can't apparate away," said Hagrid. "Tha's why so many die if ya try to keep 'em captive. There ain't an anti-apparition spell that can stop 'em. Ya gotta keep 'em tied down, and they don' eat, and most jus' waste away." 

"That's horrible," said Dawn. 

"Yeah, it is," said Hagrid. "But Trivets were hunted for a thousan' years. Tha ones tha' survived were tha ones that were most timid. Apparated away at the firs' sign o' humans aroun'. Tha' little friend o' yours is the bravest Trivet I've ever seen." 

"And she's really cute too!" said Dawn. "Thanks, well, I gotta run! Bye!" Dawn continued on her way, back along the fence on the other side of the paddock, with the Trivet following along beside her. She paused briefly when she got back to the edge of the forest to go to the fence to pat the Trivet briefly on her nose before setting off on the last leg of her run, back around the castle to the Quidditch pitch on the far side to watch the end of the practice. 


	32. Comparing Notes

Professor Lupin reminded everyone at the end of Friday's class that he would not be teaching on Tuesday and Thursday next week. "Instead you are going to be having the first of our guest lecturers." 

Hermione raised her hand. "Who's it going to be Professor?" 

Lupin just smiled at them. "We're saving that as a surprise, but I think you'll all find it fascinating." 

They all went off to lunch together discussing who it could be. Neville hoped it would be an Auror from the Ministry. Someone who could tell them first hand want it was like to fight against the Dark Arts, in the field. 

"Maybe it'll be Mad-Eye Moody," said Ron. "The real one this time. Professor Lupin said we'd be learning more about the Unforgivables this year, and he'd be just the one to teach that." 

"I don't think Professor Lupin would be so mysterious if it was just an Auror," said Hermione. "I think it's going to be something special, someone we won't expect." 

"What do you think, Dawn?" asked Harry. 

Dawn smiled. "I have a suspicion, but I don't want to say." Buffy had been entirely too coy about when she would be coming back to Hogwarts in the recent letters she had sent to Dawn, the only thing she would say was that it would be 'soon.' Dawn decided to change the subject. "So, are we giving Hermione a birthday party tonight?" 

"Oh, that's right!" said Ron. "I completely forgot about it! Happy Birthday Hermione!" 

"Thanks Ron. I guess that means I'll be getting your present late again this year." 

"So, do we party?" asked Dawn. "It's Friday night, and it's the only sixteenth birthday Hermione will ever have! It's been a whole two weeks since the team party." 

"Yeah, I think we can arrange for a party!" said Harry. 

* * *

Harry, Ron and Ginny had Quidditch practice after classes that afternoon so Dawn got the job of going down to the kitchens to find Dobby to arrange for Hermione's birthday cake, and other party foods. She hadn't been down there again since her first evening at Hogwarts, and was amazed by the difference. Instead of a dozen House Elves scurrying around, there were a hundred starting the preparations for tonight's dinner. She spotted Dobby right away, even though she'd never met him before. He seemed to be a foot taller than all the other elves because of the stack of hats he was wearing. He was also wearing a bright red sweater, and a couple of scarfs were wrapped around his neck. There were mismatched socks on his feet. 

Dawn approached the elf. "Um, hello, Dobby?" 

Dobby turned to look at her. "Oh, hello Miss! How can Dobby help Miss? Would Miss like tea and biscuits?" 

"Oh, no thank you, Dobby! And call me Dawn. Harry said you were the one to talk to to arrange a birthday cake for Hermione tonight." Dawn saw that the other House Elves who had been starting to gather around, shied away at the mention of Hermione's name, and went back to the work that Dawn's arrival had interrupted. 

"Certainly Miss!" said Dobby. "What sort of cake would you like?" 

"Can you do a chocolate raspberry cake, with candles?" asked Dawn. "And big enough for everyone in Gryffindor to have a piece." 

"Oh yes, Miss! We can do that, Miss!" said Dobby. "Anything else, Miss?" 

"We need party food too, like what you did last time, but I don't think we'll need as much of it," said Dawn. "About half as much will do." 

"Very well Miss! Anything else Miss?" 

"No, thank you. I think that's everything. Can you bring it all to the common room at eight o'clock? And I told you to call me Dawn." 

"Yes, Miss Dawn," said Dobby. "Everything will be ready at eight o'clock." 

"Thank you, Dobby." 

"You are welcome, Miss Dawn." 

* * *

Hermione sat by a table on which the remains of a large chocolate raspberry cake rested. The Gryffindor common room wasn't as full as it had been last time. Most of the first and second year students had disappeared right after they got their pieces of cake. They knew Hermione primarily as the prefect most likely to make them go to bed on time, and they'd already learned she was less likely to do that if she didn't see them. 

"Okay, the cake's done!" said Dawn. "Time for phase two: presents!" She pulled a pile of wrapped gifts out from under another table. "Looks like Ron didn't really forget after all." 

"My Mum reminded me to get something for her, before we came back to school." said Ron. "So I had the gift, I just forgot it was time to give it to her is all." 

Hermione started opening her presents. She loved the book _1001 Logic Puzzles_ she received from Ron, and Harry had gotten her a magic orrery of the entire solar system, with all the planets and moons accurately portrayed. They hovered in the air over their heads, slowly revolving around the room. You could zoom in on any object for a closeup view of its surface, close enough to see that there were indeed no mice on Europa, or even get an aerial view of any spot on the surface of the Earth. 

"That's cool!" said Dawn. "Can we see Hogwarts?" 

"I doubt it," said Hermione. "Hogwarts is unplottable." 

"Huh?" 

"You can't plot its location on a map," said Hermione. "If you tried, wherever you placed it would be the wrong place. This is sort of a magic map, so Hogwarts wouldn't show up on it." 

Hermione set the orrery aside, and went back to opening presents. Mrs. Weasley had sent her another jumper, and her parents had gotten her a subscription to _The Journal of Transfiguration_. Dawn's gift was a sweater too, but much more stylish than the one Mrs. Weasley had given her. 

Once again WWN provided them with music for dancing. This time it was Ron who started it off by asking Hermione to dance with him. Others quickly joined in. As the evening progressed many of the other boys asked Hermione for a dance too, but she always seemed to return to Ron. 

Dawn had one dance with Ron while Harry was having his turn with Hermione. She was a little surprised by how good a dancer he was, she had gotten the impression that he hadn't had much practice at it. When she complimented him on it, he blushed, and leaned closer to her. "Promise not to tell anyone?" he asked quietly. 

"I promise," said Dawn. 

"I was stuck in Grimmauld Place for a month this summer, with Ginny as the only other not-old person in the house, and she made me practice with her." 

Dawn laughed. "Your secret is safe with me." 

Hermione and Dawn traded partners for the next dance. It was a nice slow song, that let Dawn and Harry get nice and snugglely while they danced with each other. Dawn was happy to see that Ron and Hermione seemed to be getting snugglely too. 

A little later in the evening Dawn tried to take Harry back to their quiet corner, and discovered that Ron and Hermione had gotten to it ahead of them. They quietly left again with disturbing them, and went to find someplace else. 

* * *

"So, is he a good kisser?" Dawn asked Hermione as they were getting ready for bed. 

"Who?" asked Ginny. 

"I guess you were too busy snogging Dean to notice Hermione here snogging your brother tonight." 

"Eww! Ron?" 

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with Ron," said Dawn. "He's nice and funny and handsome and a good dancer too. Back to the question though: is he a good kisser?" 

"Well, I don't have a large sample to compare against," said Hermione, "but based on my limited experience…yes, he's a good kisser." 

"Eww!" said Ginny. 

"So, how many guys have you kissed?" Dawn finished putting on her pajama top, and sat on the end of Hermione's bed with her legs crossed. "I mean really kissed, not like you'd kiss a cousin, or a friend or something like that." 

"Counting Ron…two." 

"Who was number one?" 

"Victor Krum," said Hermione. "He was sort of an exchange student from Bulgaria who was here a couple of years ago, and we dated a bit. Ron's better though. How about you? How many guys have you kissed?" 

"Ginny!" said Dawn. "You were getting into it pretty good with Dean tonight. How many have you kissed." 

"Oh no!" said Ginny. "You started this. You have to go first. Don't tell me Harry was your first." 

"Not exactly." 

"What does 'not exactly' mean?" asked Hermione. 

"Well…there was this vampire." 

"_What?_" asked Ginny and Hermione. 

"Well, I didn't _know_ he was a vampire," said Dawn. "And vamps are supposed to stay in on Halloween! So me and my friend Janice snuck out. Buffy thought I was spending the night at her place, and she'd told her mom that she was spending the night at my place, and we met up with these guys we'd met at a party…and it turned out they were vamps." 

Ginny joined them on the bed. "No way!" 

"Way!" said Dawn. "So they drove us to this quiet place where the kids all went to make out, and then we started to…you know…make out, and then his face got all bumpy, and he had fangs and I was screaming, and I tried to run and he caught me, and then Giles, Spike and Buffy all showed up, and there was a big fight, and most of the vamps got dusted—me and Janice weren't the only ones parking with a vamp there that night—and I dusted the vamp I'd been kissing, and then when Buffy got me home again I almost wished he _had_ killed me, I felt so stupid." 

"Okay, so you've kissed Harry, and a vampire," said Ginny. 

"Not exactly," said Dawn. 

"Okay, now what does 'not exactly' mean?" asked Ginny. 

"Last year there was this guy in my school, and he had a jacket, and the jacket had a love spell on it that made every girl who saw him in it fall madly in love with him—emphasis in the 'madly'—and for a little while I was one of them, and I was throwing myself at him, and kissing him and stuff, but I don't think he should count because I wasn't acting of my own free will, and he was a lousy kisser anyway." 

"How good a kisser was the vampire?" asked Hermione. 

"He was pretty good," said Dawn. "It was a little weird, he was kinda cold, but I thought that was just because it was a cold night, and he'd been really nice and loaned me his jacket and everything beforehand and I'd never really kissed anyone before so I didn't really know what it was supposed to feel like." 

"So, vampire, love spell and Harry," said Ginny. "Any more 'not exactly's?" 

"Nope," said Dawn. "That's it. Now it's your turn. Spill. How many guys have you kissed?" 

"First you have to tell us which was best. The vampire or Harry," said Ginny. 

"Harry, hands down," said Dawn. "Much better than any night crawling hellspawn vamp…but I suppose if you asked Buffy she might disagree. She's had a thing for a couple of vampires." 

"_What?_" 

"First you have to tell us about your kissage," Dawn told Ginny. "How many?" 

"Two," said Ginny. "Dean and Michael…you've met him, he was at the team party with Cho. So what's this about Buffy and a couple of vampires?" 


	33. Guest Lecturer

Dawn followed everyone into DADA class on Tuesday. She wasn't surprised by the conversation she heard up ahead of her. 

"She looks like a Muggle," said Lavender. 

"A very pretty Muggle," said Seamus. 

"Who is she?" asked Dean. 

"I think I saw her on Platform nine and three quarters when the train was leaving," said Neville. 

"It's Buffy!" said Ron. 

The kids ahead of Ron all turned to look at him. "You know her?" asked Seamus. 

"Yeah," said Ron. "She's Dawn's sister." 

All eyes shifted to Dawn as she came into the class. Dawn could see Buffy was at the front of the class, leaning back against the teacher's desk. Dawn couldn't help thinking that Buffy was dressed to Slay. Black jeans, boots, and a battered black leather jacket. She had her hair tied back into a pony tail. She saw Dawn and smiled and waved. Dawn waved back. 

"Did you know about this?" asked Harry. 

"Not exactly," said Dawn. "I suspected. Her last couple of letters just said she'd be visiting 'soon,' and then Professor Lupin went all mysterious about who the 'guest lecturer' was going to be. I figured there was a good chance it would be Buffy." 

"So why is your sister our guest lecturer?" asked Dean. 

"I can think of a few reasons," said Dawn. "Why don't we wait to see what she says?" 

"If you'll all take your seats, we can get started," said Buffy from the front of the class. Everyone moved quickly into a seat. She waited until they had all settled down a bit. "Okay, as I think most of you know by now, my name is Buffy Summers, and you all know my younger sister over there." Buffy held her hand out toward Dawn. "I'm here to talk to you all about non-magical defense." 

A puzzled murmur went through the class. 

"That's right," said Buffy. "_Non_-magical. It isn't just magic you have to defend against, and magic isn't the only way to defend yourself. Many dark creatures will attack you with no more than claws and fangs, and are vulnerable to all manner of mundane weapons." She reached back and picked up a stake off the desk. She held it up. "A simple wooden stake is one of the most effective weapons you can use against a vampire. Puncture its heart with it, and the vamp is dust." She put down the stake and picked up a sword that Harry recognised. "Many creatures are vulnerable to swords. Professor Dumbledore tells me that Harry there…" Buffy pointed the sword at him. "…made very effective use of this sword against a Basilisk that was troubling the school a few years ago. And both the stake, and the sword will ruin your whole day if someone stabs you with them." 

Buffy put the sword back down on the desk. "And it isn't just weapons you have guard against. Let's start with a simple demonstration. Dawn and Harry, could you come down here please?" 

They exchanged a bit of a puzzled look, and got up from their desks. Harry had his wand in his hand, and Buffy asked him to put it into his pocket, and stand off to one side of the open space in front of the desk. He noticed that some of the pads that they used in Ginny's training room were on the floor here, and he started getting a little nervous about just what Buffy had in mind. 

Buffy was whispering some instructions to Dawn. When she was done Dawn came and stood about fifteen feet in front of him. Harry saw the smile on Dawn's lips, and that made him nervous too. "Er, you aren't going to hurt me are you?" he asked. 

"Don't worry," said Dawn. "You shouldn't feel a thing." 

The rest of the class laughed a bit at the exchange. 

"Okay Harry," said Buffy. "I want you to wait until you see Dawn start to move, and then I want you to pull your want out of your pocket, and stupefy her." 

Harry looked at Buffy. "Are you sure?" 

"Yep," said Buffy. "I hear it's mostly painless." 

"Mostly?" asked Dawn. 

"Well, you know you might hit your head or something when you fall down," said Buffy. "Are you both ready?" Harry and Dawn both nodded. "Okay. As soon as Dawn moves, stupefy her." 

"Right," said Harry. He stood watching Dawn. She stood still for a few seconds, and suddenly she was coming at him. Harry snatched his wand from his pocket and raised it toward her. "_Stu—_" Dawn snatched his wand out of his hand. "_—pefy!_" 

Weak sparks flew from his wand, even though it was in Dawn's hand when he completed the spell, but she had it pointed up toward the ceiling, so they didn't accomplish anything. 

"And there you see a very simple non-magical defense, or it could have been an attack." Buffy picked up the sword off the desk again. "If Dawn had been holding this, and was so inclined, she could have taken Harry's head off before he could stop her with his wand." She put the sword back down. "Let's try something else, Dawn, give Harry his wand back." 

Dawn smiled and gave Harry his wand. 

"Okay Harry, now you're going to start with your wand already out and pointed, but Dawn's going to be a lot closer." Buffy positioned them about five feet apart, and Harry pointed his wand at Dawn's chest. "Alright Harry, this time you get to go first. Stupefy her." 

"_Stupe—_" Dawn's hand lashed out. "_—fy!_" Once again she was holding his wand before he was done. 

"As you can see, if you're close enough, you can stop someone from cursing you, without magic, if you act quickly," said Buffy. "Now, you two can return to your seats." 

Buffy waited for Harry and Dawn to sit down before she started talking again. "I'm only going to be teaching this class for a couple of days, and it takes a lot longer than that to teach someone how to do what Dawn just did. She's had years of practice at that sort of thing. It's a skill that has to be learned, just like casting spells. The primary purpose of that demonstration was to show you that someone, even if they are unarmed, can be a threat to you. 

"So, what can you do? The first thing is that you need to be aware of the threat. I doubt if Dawn could have taken Harry's wand nearly so easily from across the room a second time. The first time worked because he didn't know what she was about to do, and so he basically just stood still, and _let_ her take it. Same with the second time. He was standing still. 

"So what can you do? First thing, if some starts to come at you: _don't just stand there!_ Move! Back away, move sideways, even toward them if you don't have any other choice. Give them a moving target." 

Buffy had them divide up into pairs and practice keeping a hold of their wands, while the other person in the pair tried to take it away from them. Instead of using the _Stupefy_ spell she had them use _Aqueous_ which made a jet of water shoot from the end of their wands. Everyone was thoroughly soaked by the end of the class, even Buffy, who got caught more than once by stray sprays of water from someone's wand. (Dawn was always facing the other way, and working with Harry and Neville whenever she turned to look to see who hit her in the back.) 

It took several minutes of drying spells to get everyone cleaned up at the end of class. Nearly everyone left to go to their next class but Dawn, Harry, Ron and Hermione stayed behind for a bit. Buffy and Dawn exchanged a big hug. 

"So, when'd you get back?" asked Dawn. 

"Just this morning," said Buffy. "I came in by Floo from the Leaky Cauldron. Dumbledore set it up. Weird way to travel." 

"And how long can you stay?" 

"Just a week. I wanted to check up on you, see how Ginny's coming along, and have a chance to talk with Professor Lupin, once he's over being all wolfy. So how's it going with you?" 

"It's going great!" said Dawn. 

"Keeping out of trouble?" 

"Yes!" 

"Not skipping any classes?" 

"No!" 

"Eating all your vegetables?" 

"Buffy!" 

Buffy smiled. "Just checking." She hugged Dawn again. "Had to get in nearly a month's worth of nagging there. So you're really enjoying yourself?" 

"Yeah, I am. How about you? Saved the world recently?" 

"Nope. Things are still quiet. Too quiet." Buffy looked around. "That was supposed to be a cue for something bad to happen." 

"It's like washing your car," said Dawn. "It doesn't work if you wash it because you _want_ it to rain. Um, we have to get to our next classes, but I'll see you for lunch?" 

"Yes and no," said Buffy. Dawn raised her eyebrows at her. "I'm a 'guest teacher' so I'm eating at the staff table. Something about 'maintaining a proper level of authority' or some such. But I'm bunking in with you, Hermione and Ginny, so I'll see you tonight." 

"Oh, and Ginny's next training session is at four this afternoon, so you'll come for that too, right?" 

"Wouldn't miss it!" said Buffy. 

* * *

Dawn got through Herbology without anyone asking her about the DADA guest lecturer, but word quickly spread at lunch that the pretty blonde in Professor Lupin's usual seat at the staff table was her sister. The third year Ravenclaws were also telling everyone about the lecture she'd given them about vampires. 

Hagrid found that the Kneazles he was teaching about today in Care of Magical Creatures were taking second place to everyone wanting to hear more about Buffy from Dawn. Dawn would have much preferred that everyone's attention was on the Kneazles, one of which had just scratched the hand of a Slytherin girl who had tried to pet it. 

"Is it true that Kneazles are good judges of character?" asked Laurie, as Sandra Teske sucked on her bleeding finger. 

"Tha's true," said Hagrid. "Kneazles are very good at telling if someone isn' trustworthy, an' they can react badly to 'em." He glanced at Sandra too. "Or sometimes they jus' take a dislike to someone fer no reason at all." 

Dawn, Laurie and Rob had a Kneazle between them. The cat-like creature was purring loudly as Rob stroked him. "This one must be broken," he told Laurie. "It seems to like me." He looked at Dawn. "So the third years told us they got a lecture on vampires, from someone with a whole lot of first hand vampire experience, and your class got a lesson on non-magical defense. Everyone seems to agree that Ms. Summers is a Muggle, so how does a Muggle get to know so much about vampires and such?" 

"We lived on top of the Hellmouth for seven years," said Dawn. "Even the Muggles in Sunnydale knew that there was something strange about that town, even if most of them wouldn't admit it out loud." 

"Still, it seems a little strange." 

"Strange is what Sunnydale was." 

* * *

Dawn and Hermione returned to their room after Muggle Studies. They found Buffy unpacking her bag, and Ginny getting changed into her workout clothes. They started to get changed too. When they were finished Buffy told Ginny and Hermione to go ahead without them. She wanted to have a private chat with Dawn first. 

Buffy pointed to a pile of books on Dawn's desk. "Willow sent you those. What do you want with a bunch of books on electronics and stuff in a Wizarding school?" 

"Muggle Studies term project," said Dawn. "We're supposed to get a piece of Muggle technology that doesn't normally work in Hogwarts working. Hermione and I are trying to make my computer work." 

"Ah," said Buffy. "So, how much have you taught Ginny and the others?" 

* * *

When Buffy and Dawn arrived in the Room of Requirement they found that Ginny, Harry, Ron and Hermione were engaged in warm-up exercises. Buffy watched for a moment before she called for attention. "Okay, Dawn's been filling me in on what she's been teaching you guys, so now it's time for me to see if you're all doing as well as she says you are." 

Buffy had Harry pair up with Ginny, and Ron with Hermione while she and Dawn stood back and watched. Harry, Ron and Hermione were showing a lot more enthusiasm than they were actual skill, but they were doing well for kids who had just started a couple of weeks ago. Ginny was doing a lot better. It was really no contest between her and Harry, but she was relying on her superior speed and strength a lot more than she was on skill. Buffy was pleased to see that Ginny was also being careful about how she used her strength, so as not to hurt Harry. 

After a while Buffy had Dawn take Harry's place, to watch how Ginny performed against a skilled fighter. This time things weren't nearly as one sided. Ginny was still usually the winner, but every once in a while she hesitated in her attacks and counters, in ways that let Dawn take advantage. Every time Dawn won a bout she and Ginny would do a quick debrief on what had happened, and how Dawn had managed to beat her. Ginny rarely made the exact same mistake twice, though it was plain to Buffy that most of Ginny's mistakes came from her being careful not to hurt Dawn. 

Buffy had seen enough. "Dawn, why don't you and Harry work out a bit together? It's time for me and Ginny to have a turn…and Ginny, I'm a lot less breakable than Dawn is." 

Ginny also discovered that Buffy was a lot quicker than Dawn, when her first attack on Buffy left her lying on her back on the mat with the wind knocked out of her. Buffy was still standing, and smiling down at her. She stretched out her hand. "Want to try that again?" 

Ginny let Buffy pull her to her feet. "Not exactly." She tightened her grip on Buffy's hand, pulled, twisted, pivoted…and wound up on the mat again, only this time Buffy hadn't let go, and Ginny was locked into an armbar. 

Ginny tapped out, and Buffy let go of her. They both got back to their feet, and Buffy smiled at her. "Nice try, but I'm the one who taught that one to Dawn. Let's go again." 

Ginny circled Buffy carefully, watching for an opening, and all the time aware that whatever opening she thought she saw, would probably be some sort of trap. She saw Buffy seem to leave herself open several times, but she didn't attack. 

"You have to attack me sometime," said Buffy. 

"No I don't," said Ginny. "I could wait for you to attack me." 

"True," said Buffy. "But then something like this…" Buffy darted in past Ginny's defense, and once again Ginny was pinned to the mat. "…might happen." 

Ginny tapped out again, and they got back to their feet. "If I attack you, I lose. If I wait for you to attack me, I lose. What should I do?" 

"In a situation like that, there's always the Monty Python defense," said Buffy. 

"What's the Monty Python defense?" 

Buffy was surprised that it was Harry who supplied the answer. "_Run away! Run away!_" he cried in a high pitched voice. She looked and saw that everyone else had stopped what they were doing to watch her and Ginny. Dawn and Hermione were laughing, and Ron was giving Harry a very strange look. 

"Exactly," said Buffy. "Sometimes the best thing you can do is run away. First rule of Slaying: don't die. Standing to fight against something faster, stronger or better than you, when you don't have to, doesn't do you or the world a bit of good. Sometimes you have to stand and fight: to protect others, allow them time to get away, or because if you don't stop the threat now, it will only get worse, so you fight, and hope you get lucky. But sometimes the best thing you can do is run away." 

"Have you ever run?" asked Ginny. 

"Lots," said Buffy. "Why do you think I'm still alive? You run, you regroup, you find another way: a better place to fight, where you have the advantages; a better weapon; a better plan. Learn from your opponent, see if you can find a weakness you can exploit." 

Buffy stopped the sparring session, and started on some exercises to improve Ginny's speed, while maintaining the control she needed to keep from hurting anyone. It was something Buffy had never been able to do much during her training. She had almost always had sparring partners who couldn't hope to match her strength and speed, so her initial training sessions with Merrick, her first Watcher, had often ended with him being injured in some way. With Buffy as a training partner, Ginny could push herself more rapidly without having to worry about breaking her opponent before she learned to fully control herself. 

Buffy was also mindful of the fact that once she left Ginny would be training with Dawn as her primary partner again, so she was careful to see to it that Ginny didn't get careless. She knew that they weren't pushing to get Ginny ready for combat as soon as possible, as she had been pushed, and as they had pushed the Potentials a year earlier. They had a couple of years before Ginny would be put into a position where she would be fighting for her life. 


	34. Trei the Trivet

Buffy joined Dawn for her jog on Wednesday afternoon. She was a little puzzled by why Dawn insisted that they stop by the kitchen on the way out of the castle for some carrots though. It was obviously something Dawn did regularly, since a House Elf was waiting by the kitchen door with half a dozen of them ready for her. 

Dawn just stuck the carrots into her pockets, and she and Buffy left the castle together. 

"So you get the munchies during your jogs now?" asked Buffy as they ran down beside the lake. 

"Nope," said Dawn. "They're for a friend. I'm not sure if she'll show up with you along though, she's pretty shy." 

"You haven't been following in Willow's footsteps have you?" asked Buffy. "Is it a magic thing?" 

Dawn laughed. "Not that sort of friend. You'll see…I hope." 

They kept running, and Dawn caught up on the news from all the Sunnydale survivors. The group in Cleveland—which included Rona, Vi and Robin Wood as well as Faith, Xander and Andrew—had decided that Giles was pulling their legs when he told them there was a Hellmouth there. So far they had broken up a couple of fights among what turned out to really be a gang on PCP, and that was as close to a supernatural disturbance as they'd found. 

They reached the paddock fence, and Buffy could see that Dawn was looking for something inside it as they ran along it. She heard a distant _crack_ and looked toward it. She saw a small deer-like animal running along on the other side of the fence, keeping pace with them but staying a good distance inside it. 

Dawn slowed to a stop. "You better stay here," she told Buffy. "Trei's pretty shy." She started to move toward the fence, a little way off from Buffy. 

"Trei?" asked Buffy. 

"That's what I call her," said Dawn. "Trei the Trivet." She approached the fence, and leaned against it. Buffy watched the Trivet slowly move toward Dawn, while keeping a very nervous eye on Buffy. 

"It's okay, Trei," said Dawn. "Buffy only Slays evil creatures. She won't hurt you." 

Trei finally reached the fence, and Dawn gave her nose a rub, and fed her one of the carrots from her pocket. She started to feed her a second carrot. 

"So that's your friend?" asked Buffy. 

"Yeah," said Dawn. "Hagrid and I are the only ones she'll let get this close. Want to see if she'll let you?" 

"Okay," said Buffy. "What do I do?" 

"I think you should just come this way slowly, and talk to her softly while you're doing it. Don't want her to think you're trying to sneak up on her." 

"Alright." Buffy started moving slowly toward the fence. "Hello Trei, I'm Buffy. So, have you seen any nasty vampires or other demons around here lately? What's a nice little girl like you doing in a paddock like this?" 

Buffy reached the fence and Dawn gave her a carrot. "Why don't you see if she'll take it from you?" 

"Okay, so Trei, would you like another carrot?" Buffy slowly reached over the fence. 

Trei vanished with a _crack_, and the echo of it seemed to come from about a hundred feet away. Buffy looked and saw the Trivet there, looking at her. "What just happened?" 

"I guess she doesn't trust you," said Dawn. "She apparated." 

"Apparated…that's like teleportation, right?" asked Buffy. 

"Yep." Dawn resumed her run along the fence. Trei followed along again, but this time she stayed farther away. 

Buffy fell in beside Dawn. "Didn't someone tell me that you couldn't apparate on the Hogwarts grounds?" She looked toward the castle. "Or doesn't that rule apply this far out." 

"That rule doesn't apply to Trivets," said Dawn. "No one has found a way to keep them from apparating that doesn't involve physically tying them down." 

"Could be useful," said Buffy. 

"Not so much for the Trivets," said Dawn. "People tried to use them so much they're almost extinct. The ones that are still alive are pretty shy of people." 

"Maybe we shouldn't be so friendly to her then," said Buffy. "Wouldn't want to make her too trusting." 

Dawn frowned. "I hadn't thought of that. Hagrid didn't seem to think it was a bad idea, me making friends with her. He's the one who suggested the carrots." 

"I get the impression that Hagrid tends to be a little too trusting sometimes too," said Buffy. 

They kept running, with Trei following along inside the fence, but she didn't approach it again, even when Dawn stopped at the far end and called to her, with Buffy keeping well back. When it became clear that Trei wasn't going to come to her, Dawn took the rest of the carrots out of her pockets and threw them into the paddock so Trei could have them. Then Buffy and Dawn continued their run, going behind the castle and around to the Quidditch pitch. 

* * *

When they got to the stands they saw the Gryffindor Quidditch team was playing a practice game. Rather than playing with the team against the reserves, Harry had them mixed up. He and the other team Chasers were playing with the reserve Beaters and Keeper, against the reserve Chasers with the team Beaters and Keeper. Dawn felt like she was becoming a Quidditch expert as she explained what was going on to Buffy. 

Dean Thomas had the Quaffle. He was blocked by Lavender and Colin so he tried to pass it across to Natalie MacDonald. He underestimated just how fast Harry could accelerate on his Firebolt though, and he darted between them and intercepted the pass. Trish Maat charged at Harry to try to force him to pass or drop the Quaffle, but he managed to dodge her, and was left with a nearly clear run to the other end of the pitch. He accelerated away down the field. 

He wasn't completely clear though. Jack and Andrew were racing after him. Andrew hit one of the Bludgers with his bat, sending it flying at Harry. Harry did a roll on his broom to evade it. Jack was in position on the other side of Harry and hit the Bludger back. This time Harry had to dodge to avoid it. Jack and Andrew managed to slow Harry down enough for Dean and Natalie to catch up with him. Harry saw that Colin was in the clear and passed the Quaffle to him. 

Colin snatched the Quaffle out of the air and surged forward, closing on the goal hoops. Ron moved out to cut off his angle, and Colin passed the Quaffle across to Lavender who swooped toward the clear goal hoop. Ron reversed in an instant, moving to cut her off as she threw. He reached out and tipped the Quaffle with his hand, deflecting it enough to make it hit the goal ring, and bounce away. 

Dawn and Buffy both applauded and cheered, though they weren't sure if they were cheering for Lavender's almost goal, or Ron's save. There were about a dozen other people in the stands, watching the practice with them who were also cheering. 

"This is a fun game," said Buffy as she watched the teams regroup, and resume play. "I can see why Harry gets so excited about it." 

"It can get pretty brutal too," said Dawn. "I understand that in actual games broken bones and things are not at all uncommon." 

"I can see how that could happen," said Buffy. "Even in a practice like this, I wouldn't want to take a hit from one of those Bludgers." Her attention moved to Ginny and Lindsey, circling above the pitch. "Still don't get the Seeker thing though." 

Ginny and Lindsey both dropped into dives at the same instant, accelerating down toward the melee of other players struggling for control of the Quaffle. 

"Oh!" Dawn pointed toward a glint of gold near the ground. "There's the Snitch!" 

Lindsey chose to go around the mass of players from both teams, even though it was the longer route to the Snitch, hoping that the greater speed that the lack of maneuvering to avoid a collision allowed would make up for the greater distance. Ginny barrelled straight through the center of the group, zigging and zagging to avoid them. 

Ginny and Lindsey were neck and neck once Ginny cleared the melee. Ginny's faster broom let her start to pull ahead. 

Jack hit a Bludger with his bat, sending it hurtling after Ginny. There didn't seem to be any hope of her being able to see it coming up behind her, but she suddenly swerved aside, and the Bludger passed her by with inches to spare. Ginny returned to her pursuit of the Snitch, but dodging the Bludger had put Lindsey into the lead again, and closing rapidly on the Snitch. 

Lindsey missed her attempt to snatch the Snitch, and Ginny was able to overtake her before she had another chance to try. Ginny's hand flashed out—so fast that Buffy was the only one watching who was able to see it—and picked the Snitch out of the air. 

"Okay," said Buffy. "Once they actually get to do something, the Seeking thing gets exciting." 

"Once you get to know what's going on, the Seekers aren't quite as boring as they appear to be," said Dawn. "There's a lot of maneuvering going on between them, always trying to get into a better position, and to fake out the other Seeker out." 

Harry called an end to the practice. They just had time to get everything put away, and get back to the castle in time for dinner. Dawn and Buffy joined Harry, Ron and Ginny as they walked back toward the castle together. 

"Hey, Buffy," said Ron. "I hear you took fifty points off Malfoy today." 

"Yeah," said Buffy. "He volunteered to be the curser in my demonstration of non-magical defense, and then he tried to curse me in the back. I was tempted to keep his wand, maybe wear it in my hair, after I took it away from him, but I hear that's already been done, so I just took ten points off him. Then the little git tried to do it again. He's a real slow learner." 

* * *

Buffy sat in on Professor Lupin's Friday classes, and went with him to his office to talk with him about Ginny's progress instead of joining Dawn for her afternoon run. This time Dawn cut away from the Forbidden Forest about a hundred yards before she got to the paddock, thinking about what Buffy had said about it not being such a good idea to get Trei trusting people too much. She couldn't help looking toward the fence though, and she could see the little Trivet was running along the inside of it, and looking toward her. 

"I'm sorry Trei," said Dawn softly. "But this is for your own good." She forced herself to look away, and concentrated on her running. 

* * *

Buffy stayed through the weekend, spending most of her time with Dawn, when she wasn't working with Ginny. Dawn watched Buffy's sessions with Ginny with a certain amount of trepidation, the challenge of having another Slayer to train against was really pushing Ginny's abilities along. Dawn resigned herself to the fact that she would probably never again manage to beat Ginny in a bout. 

Buffy moved Ginny on to lessons in striking her opponents, how to punch and kick, while blocking attacks against her, and always emphasising the need for Ginny to control her strength: never to strike against her sparring partner hard enough to seriously injure her. For striking hard they had the punching bag and Oscar, which the room had restored for them. 

* * *

Dawn's friends all gathered in the Gryffindor common room on Sunday night to see Buffy off. Buffy dropped her bag in front of the fireplace and hugged her sister hard. "Have fun, study hard." 

"I will," said Dawn. "When will you be back?" 

"Probably not for a couple of months," said Buffy. "After this Giles and I are off on a world tour, checking in with the girls. Chao Ahn's got a Watcher now who speaks Mandarin, and English, so we're finally going to get to actually understand something she says." 

"You guys take care of yourselves," said Dawn. 

"We will." Buffy let go of Dawn and hugged Ginny. "You have fun and study hard too." 

"I'll try," said Ginny. 

Buffy surprised Harry by hugging him too. She whispered something in his ear that made the smile leave his face for a moment. When she let go of him he stepped back beside Dawn, but his arm didn't go around her like it usually did when they were together these days. 

"What did you say to him?" Dawn asked her sister. 

Buffy just gave Dawn an evil grin. "Nothing you need to know about." She smiled and turned to Ron and Hermione, who were standing with their arms around each other. "Bye guys! Take care of my sister." She took a pinch of Floo powder and threw it into the fire. It turned green. "This is just weird," Buffy picked up her bags, and stepped into the fire. "The Leaky Cauldron!" She vanished in a whirl of green flames. 

Dawn looked at Harry. "What did she say to you?" 

"Oh, nothing." Harry's arm finally went around her waist. "Just that she'd rip my arms off if I hurt you." He kissed her. "Not that I was ever planning on doing anything like that." 

* * *

Dawn bypassed the paddock on Monday's run too. She was running along the grassy path that led around the back side of the castle when she heard a loud _crack_ right behind her. She knew the sound well, but it still startled her. She stopped and turned around. "Trei, go away! Shoo!" 

The little Trivet just cocked her head at Dawn and looked puzzled. Dawn tried to put some anger into her voice. "Scat!" She clapped her hands. "Get lost! _Go!_" 

Trei continued to look puzzled. Dawn sighed and dropped down onto her knees on the grass. "Oh, I can't fool you, can I?" She reached out and scratched Trei's ears. "You know I've missed you too, but this really is for your own good." 

Trei vanished, disapparating right out from under Dawn's hand. At first she was startled, and thought that maybe Trei had understood her, but she soon heard the sound of voices coming down the path toward her. Dawn got up and resumed her run. She waved to a couple of fifth year Hufflepuff students she didn't really know as she passed them. There was another _crack_ as soon as they were out of sight again, and Trei was running along beside her. 

"Well, okay," said Dawn. "I guess you can run with me, as long as you keep disappearing when anyone else comes along." 


	35. The DA

Dawn found Cho and Laurie sitting in the stands watching the team practice when she reached the Quidditch pitch. She dropped into the seat beside Cho. "Hey guys! Spying on the competition again?" 

"Yep!" said Cho. "There's also something I want to talk to Harry about." Dawn saw that Cho's eyes never left the pitch, they were tracking Ginny and Lindsey chasing a practice Snitch around the field. "Damn, but she's gotten good!" Ginny had just snatched the Snitch. 

"Yeah, she has," said Dawn. "And she was already able to beat you last year too." 

Cho grimaced. "She got lucky." 

"So what do you want to talk to Harry about?" 

"Don't worry, I'm not going to steal your boyfriend." 

"I'm not worried about _that!_" 

"We're starting up the DA again," said Cho. "Thought Harry might like to join us, since he's the one who founded it." 

"According to the version I heard it was more Hermione's idea," said Dawn. 

Cho frowned. "Yes, well, whatever. We're starting it up again, this time as an official school club, with a faculty advisor and everything, and we thought that Harry really ought to be involved." 

"Yeah?" asked Dawn. "Who's the advisor?" 

"Professor Lupin, of course," said Cho. "He is the DADA professor after all." 

"Huh?" said Dawn. "I'm surprised he hasn't mentioned anything about it." 

"We just went to talk with him, before we came down here," said Cho. "He thinks it's a really good idea." 

"Yeah, so do I," said Dawn. "I'll probably join." 

Cho gave Dawn a look. "Think you could teach us more of that non-magical defense your sister was showing us? I hear that you did the demonstration in your class, instead of her." 

"Yeah, I guess," said Dawn. "If Professor Lupin thinks it's okay. But I'm nowhere near as good as Buffy at that sort of thing." 

"Still puts you ahead of all of us," said Cho. She turned her attention back to the Quidditch pitch. "Looks like Harry's a pretty good Chaser too." 

* * *

Dawn held the punching bag, while Ginny punched and kicked at it. "So you think it's a good idea?" she asked. 

"Sure," said Professor Lupin. "It's just as good an idea now as it was last year." 

Ginny hit the bag with a spinning kick that Buffy had taught her. "You want me in it too?" 

"Why not?" asked Lupin. "I think we can count it as part of your Slayer training." 

"You want Ginny practicing this sort of thing in front of the other students?" asked Dawn. 

"No, I think we'll leave Ginny out of the public non-magical defense courses," said Lupin. "We'll be covering magical defense and dark creatures too, but I think you can hold courses for the other students who are interested in learning this sort of thing. Keep your eyes open for talent. Rupert asked me to keep an eye on the students here. He thinks it might be a good idea to get some more wizards into the Watchers." 

"Not sure I have the time to devote to the DA this year," said Harry. "It wasn't just the sessions themselves. I spent more time outside them planning than I did inside them. It's the same deal with the Quidditch team this year. Most of my spare time is already taken up planning our practice sessions." 

Lupin smiled at him. "Welcome to the world of teaching. At least you don't have to grade essays, or mark tests." 

Harry smiled back. "Really made me appreciate how much work you do." 

"You could pass the leadership on to someone else," said Dawn. "Cho's been doing all the organization so far. Let her do it." 

"It gets easier, the more you do it too." said Lupin. "You've already done the lesson planning once. You might want to refine it a bit, but you're not starting over from scratch." 

"But I don't want to just repeat what we did last year," said Harry. "Been there, done that. Time to move on." 

"Yes," said Lupin, "but I think you're going to find you have a larger membership to deal with this time. The new members are still going to have to learn the things that you taught last year, before they can learn more advanced techniques." 

* * *

Hermione watched Ginny sitting in her bed, writing in a notebook. She was just about to go in for her morning shower. "What are you writing?" she asked. 

"Dream journal," said Ginny. 

Hermione frowned. "You aren't taking Divination." 

"It's not for Divination," said Ginny. "Professor Lupin wants me to do it. It's a Slayer thing." 

Dawn was coming out of the bathroom, toweling her hair dry. "Slayers sometimes have prophetic dreams." She tossed her towel into the laundry hamper, and started to brush her hair. "Keeping a dream journal helps her remember them. Once she's done it for a while, she won't need to keep it anymore. It's mostly just to get her into the habit of remembering what she dreams." 

"What?" Hermione scoffed. "If you dream a purple cat crossed the road, it means there's going to be an apocalypse at noon next Thursday?" 

"Was that the sort of crap that they taught in Divination?" asked Dawn. "No wonder you dropped it. No, it's nothing like that, but she can get warnings about bad things that are going to happen, and clues about how to defeat them. Buffy's had lots of dreams that helped her figure out what was going on." 

"What about that 'ignore all prophecies' rule of hers?" asked Hermione. 

Dawn smiled. "Buffy's never been one for following rules…even the ones she makes herself, and the dreams aren't always about Prophecy. Sometimes dreams are your subconscious mind's way of passing along information it's worked out but your conscious mind hasn't figured out yet." 

* * *

The first meeting of the DA took place in a large classroom. Dawn looked over the gathered students. There were about fifty of them, many she hadn't met before. They were all milling around and talking with each other. It was nearly eight o'clock, the time set for the start of the meeting. Dawn looked toward Professor Lupin, wondering when he would call the meeting to order. 

Eight o'clock came and went. Lupin still hadn't done anything. Several people kept looking his way expectantly. Hermione especially fixed him with a glare. "Hey," said Lupin. "I'm just the advisor. You guys are running things." 

"Right," said Harry. "I guess as the former leader, it's my job to get this show on the road." He moved to the front of the classroom. "Alright everyone!" he called. "Can I have your attention please?" Silence fell over the group. "Okay, welcome to the first meeting of the Defense Association." 

"Dumbledore's Army!" called out Seamus from the back of the room. 

"That too," said Harry. "Now that we're an official school club, rather than the very unofficial and unauthorized association we were last year, there are a few formalities that we need to get out of the way. For starters, we have to elect a club President." 

"Harry!" called out someone from the back of the room. "It has to be you, Harry!" called someone else. 

Harry waved for silence. "I'm here, I'm going to be here to teach what I know, but I don't have the time this year to run the club. I open the floor to nominations. _I_ nominate Cho Chang for club president!" 

"Seconded!" called out Dawn on cue. 

"We have one nomination," said Harry. "Any more?" 

"I nominate Ron Weasley!" said Ginny. 

"Huh?" asked Ron. 

"Seconded!" said Hermione. 

"Any more nominations?" asked Harry. 

Everyone else was too stunned to say anything. Harry could see that they had all expected that he would continue as the DA president. 

"Okay, we have two nominations," said Harry. "Show of hands. Who wants Ron to be club president?" 

Cho won the vote by a narrow margin. Harry smiled at her. "Okay, it's your show now." He went and sat down. 

Cho was somewhat non-plused for a moment, but she recovered quickly and came to the head of the class. "Alright, this is mostly an organisational and orientation meeting, letting the new members know what we're about. You've already heard Harry say that he'll be teaching what he knows again this year, and Dawn Summers has agreed to teach us some more of the non-magical defense that her sister was showing us last week. We also have Professor Lupin as an advisor, and he'll be teaching us some more advanced defensive spells…" 

* * *

Dawn looked over the twenty or so students who had decided they wanted to learn more about non-magical defense. Harry, Ron and Hermione were there, and so were Rob Harding and Laurie Davis. They had the use of one of the classrooms again, and the floor was covered with mats. She was feeling a little nervous, this wasn't like teaching Ginny and a couple of friends. 

"Alright, let's get started. We're here to learn some more non-magical defense. What Buffy showed us a couple of weeks ago was mostly just to get you thinking about other forms of attack and defense, instead of relying entirely on magic, but to _really_ learn about non-magical defense, you have to start with the basics, and the most basic thing of all is how to fall, without hurting yourself. And believe me, once we get started in this, you are all going to be falling a _lot_." 

Half an hour later several people were grumbling. They thought learning non-magical defense would involve more than falling on their asses. Dawn decided it was time to show them something different, or no one would come back to the next class. 

She clapped for attention. "Okay! Everyone's doing really well, it's time to move on to something that makes use of what you've been learning. I gotta warn you now though, that we're going to be spending a _lot_ more time practicing breakfalls. If Harry would step up here, I'll show you why you've been learning them." 

Harry smiled as he stepped toward her. "And again, I ask: You aren't going to hurt me are you?" 

"Not if you do your breakfall right," said Dawn. 

Dawn and Harry held onto each other in front of the class. "Okay, this is one of the most basic takedowns." Dawn shifted a bit, pulling Harry off balance, hooked a leg behind his, and pushed, tripping him so he fell onto his back. He slapped the mat with his arms as he landed, in a fairly well executed breakfall. 

"You see?" asked Dawn. "Harry did a pretty good breakfall there. Now I want everyone to pair up, and we'll show you what I just did. You're going to be taking turns as the flippers, and flippees, and I want to see the flippees doing their breakfalls when they land." 

Dawn demonstrated the throw she'd done on Harry again, going more slowly, and then had the pairs of kids repeat it. She spent some time wandering around, watching each pair, sometimes stepping in to correct what someone was doing, showing them how to do it right. 

Rob Harding was paired up with Laurie Davis. Dawn watched them for a while, taking turns throwing each other. She glanced around the room. Rob was nearly the only one there from Slytherin. She asked him about it. 

"Oh, this non-magical stuff is 'below' a lot of those stuck up pureblood types," said Rob. "They weren't devious enough to realise that it's a good way to get to grope pretty girls." He leered at Laurie. Laurie slammed him down hard onto the mat next time, knocking the wind out of him. 

Dawn pointed at Rob as he lay gasping on the floor. "And that's why you need to work on your breakfalls!" she said loudly. 


	36. Wiccan Magic

Dawn stood shivering on the platform of the Hogsmeade train station with Ginny, Harry, Ron and Hermione. It was late October, and the temperature had dropped sharply as soon as the sun had set. The moon, just a day past full, was rising in the east. Dawn could see her breath as she exhaled. The others didn't seem to be noticing the cold nearly as much. 

"Why aren't you guys freezing?" asked Dawn. 

Harry had already given her his robe to wear over her own. He looked at her holding her arms around herself. "It's really not that cold." He stepped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her anyway. 

"Hey, California girl here!" said Dawn. "This is just about as cold as it ever gets there!" 

"Well, you won't have to put up with it much longer," said Hermione. "There's the train." 

Dawn looked and saw the headlight of the Hogwarts Express coming toward them out of the darkness. That was another thing that got her. Here it wasn't even 5:30 yet, and the sun had set half an hour ago. 

Dawn leaned back against Harry, feeling his warmth, as she watched the train pull into the station. It was just the two coaches again this time. It came to a stop with the steps for the passenger coach right in front of them. 

"Dawnie!" cried Willow as she jumped down out of the train. Harry let go of Dawn as Willow came toward them, and Dawn stepped forward to exchange his arms around her for Willow's. 

"God, it's good to see you again!" said Dawn. 

"You too, kiddo!" said Willow. She looked over Dawn's shoulder. "You must be Harry." 

"Oh yeah!" Dawn released Willow and pulled back a bit. She saw that Willow wasn't alone either. "Everybody, this is Willow Rosenberg, a kick ass Wiccan, and that girl behind her is Kennedy, an ass kicking Slayer." 

Kennedy smiled and hopped down off the train. "Hi Dawn." Her eyes moved over the others on the platform, and settled on Ginny. "Hi." 

"I'd like you to meet Ginny Weasley," said Dawn. "Who is also going to be an ass kicking Slayer." 

"Are all Slayers so short?" whispered Ron to Harry. 

"No, but we all have very good ears," said Kennedy. 

"The over tall, tactless one is Ginny's brother Ron," said Dawn, "and that's our friend Hermione. Professor Lupin couldn't make it. He's all wolfy tonight." 

Kennedy looked around. "So where's this castle I've been hearing about?" 

Willow pointed to the north. "That way, about half a mile." 

Harry, Ron and Ginny all looked surprised. "Er, yeah," said Harry. "How'd you know?" 

"I can _feel_ it," said Willow. "An incredible concentration of magic." 

* * *

Willow felt the power growing as they approached the castle. She hadn't felt so much magical energy concentrated in one place since she left Sunnydale. She felt like she wanted to immerse herself in it. The feeling exhilarated and scared her. She clutched at Kennedy's hand, and squeezed it tightly as she looked up from the boat at the castle looming above them. 

"You know, if I wasn't a Slayer, I'd be in danger of having broken bones right now," whispered Kennedy. 

Willow released her hand. "Oh, Goddess, I'm sorry. I didn't mean—" 

Kennedy took hold of Willow's hand again. "Hey, it's okay. I _am_ a Slayer, and that means you can squeeze as hard as you need to. What's the matter?" 

"It's just…there's so much power here…I feel like I could lose myself in it." 

"Never," said Kennedy. "You're stronger than that. You could never lose yourself, and if you did get pulled off track a little bit, you've got me to pull you back." 

Willow smiled at her lover, taking in the supreme confidence in her eyes. She knew that Kennedy put people off a lot sometimes with her attitude, that she could do anything, but Willow loved it. She knew that part of it was an act, she'd seen Kennedy's confidence get shaken a couple of times, revealing an inner vulnerability that she rarely let anyone else glimpse. In a strange way it reminded her of Tara. The two girls seemed to be polar opposites in so many ways. Tara was shy, Kennedy was brash. Tara was haunted by self doubt, and Kennedy was supremely confident. Tara's shy exterior hid an inner core of great strength, and Kennedy's brash exterior hid an inner vulnerability. 

"I know you will, baby." Willow gave Kennedy a kiss, their tongues meeting…the pierced tongue was a bonus too. She heard a strangling sound coming from behind them, and looked back. 

Ron, Ginny and Hermione were in the boat behind them, and Hermione and Ginny were shooting Ron a very annoyed look. 

"What?" asked Willow. "Never seen two girls kissing before?" 

"Not like that," said Ron. 

"Well, get used to it," said Willow. She went back to kissing Kennedy, until Harry called out for them to duck before they entered the passage into the cliff. 

* * *

Willow followed Dawn and Harry up multiple flights of stairs, with Kennedy by her side, and Ron, Hermione and Ginny following along behind. They were led into a corridor on the sixth floor, to a painting of a couple of mermaids sunning on a rock. "Wiccan magic," said Dawn. 

Willow felt the magic ripple through the painting. The mermaids giggled, and the painting swung open. 

"This is your room," said Dawn. She led them through the doorway into a large, comfortable room with an enormous four-poster bed in it. "We considered having you bunk with me, Hermione and Ginny, but we decided we wanted to get a little sleep tonight." Ron made a strangling noise again, and Willow blushed. "Dinner starts soon, so we'll let you get settled in. Be back in fifteen minutes to show you down to the Great Hall. There's a bathroom through there…" Dawn pointed at another door. "…so you can freshen up a bit. If you want to change your password, you just have to call the mermaids into that painting…" Dawn pointed to a seascape on the wall, complete with waves crashing against the rocks. "…and tell them what you want it to be. If you need us, we're one floor up. Turn left, and ask the Fat Lady in the pink dress to announce you." She gave Willow another hug. "God, it's good to see you again!" 

Willow hugged back. "And you Dawnie!" 

Dawn let go, and moved toward the door. "Okay, see you in a quarter hour." She waved for the others to leave ahead of her. She backed out the door, and gave Willow and Kennedy a wave. "See ya!" She closed the door. 

Willow turned to Kennedy and saw the grin on her face. Kennedy's eyes flicked to the bed. "Oh no!" said Willow. "Dawn's going to be back in fifteen minutes!" 

Kennedy grabbed Willow and carried her to the bed. "Lots of time!" 

Willow squealed and giggled as Kennedy threw her onto the bed, but then she was silenced by Kennedy's mouth on her own. Their hands started to pull at each other's clothes. 

* * *

Willow brushed her hair quickly, and checked out her face in the mirror for any lingering signs of how she and Kennedy had spent most of the last fifteen minutes. She had cleaned off all the smears from Kennedy's lipstick. She was thankful that she often didn't bother to wear much makeup of her own, so she didn't have to go through the touchup job that Kennedy was doing beside her. 

Willow adjusted her blouse. She almost hadn't managed to get dressed again. Once Kennedy had seen their bathtub—the perfect size for two—she had wanted to blow off dinner completely. She went back out into their bedroom, and sat in a chair to finish putting her shoes back on. "You have visitors," said a giggling voice from the seascape painting. 

Willow looked up, and saw one of the mermaids bobbing in the surf. "Oh, uh, just a minute." 

She ran around the room gathering up Kennedy's clothes, which seemed to have been thrown pretty much everywhere. She tossed them into the bathroom with Kennedy, and closed the door. She looked around for more evidence. There was no way she could fix the rumpled blankets on the bed, so she pulled the curtains closed around it. She glanced around the room one last time. "Okay, I guess you can let them in now." 

The door swung open, and Dawn and her friends came back in. "So, you guys ready for dinner?" she asked. 

"Kennedy needs another minute I think," said Willow. She saw a startled expression suddenly appear on Ron's face, and looked where he was looking. She saw that she had missed Kennedy's panties. They were lying across the arm of a chair. She hadn't noticed their black on top of the black leather during her quick inspection. 

Kennedy came out of the bathroom. "So, we all set?" she asked. 

"Uh, if you are?" asked Willow. Her eyes flicked briefly toward the arm of the chair. 

Kennedy glanced that way too, and smiled. "I'm good to go, and really hungry." She turned away, and walked out the door. Willow couldn't help looking at her girlfriend's ass, even smoother than usual under her tight jeans. 

* * *

Willow followed Dawn down a long corridor, looking around in wonder, and feeling the magic flickering about her. She clutched at Kennedy's hand again, and felt butterflies in her stomach the size of bats. She was beginning to think it hadn't been such a good idea to eat so much at dinner…but the food had been so good. 

Dawn looked back at her friend and smiled. "Relax. Professor Dumbledore is a real sweetheart. A skinny Santa." 

"But remember what Anya told us about the real Santa?" asked Willow. 

"There's a real Santa?" asked Kennedy. 

"Yeah," said Dawn, "But according to Anya, he's more into eviscerating children, than giving them presents." 

"And Dumbledore has so much _power!_" said Willow. "I've never seen anyone I felt so much power in before!" She had only seen him from a distance during dinner, but even then she could feel it. 

"Sure you have sweetie," said Kennedy. "Every time you look in a mirror." 

Dawn stopped in front of the gargoyle statue. "Chocolate Frog." she said. 

Willow felt the same magic pulse through the gargoyle that had passed through the painting over the entrance to their room. It stood up, moved aside, and more magic made the stones in the wall pull aside. She saw the spiral staircase twisting upward. 

"Come on," said Dawn, and stepped onto the stairs. 

Willow followed Dawn into Dumbledore's office, and looked around in amazement. She had been steeped in magic ever since she had entered Hogwarts, and here she was in what she knew was the heart of it. She could feel it flowing around her. She wanted to reach out and suck it all in. 

She saw Dawn glance back toward her, with a smile on her face, that quickly became a look of startlement. "Willow…your hair…?" 

Willow looked down, and saw that her long red hair was shot with white. "Whoa!" She closed her eyes, and concentrated, releasing the magic she had been unconsciously drawing into her, letting if flow freely around her again. She staggered, and would have fallen if Kennedy wasn't holding her. "Sorry about that." 

"I've seen your hair go black, but it's never done that before," said Dawn. 

"Yes it has," said Kennedy. "She looked just like that when she made me a Slayer." 

"Most extraordinary," said a soft voice. 

Willow looked up and saw Professor Dumbledore smiling at her. "Oh, sorry about that. I didn't mean to…whoa, I need to sit down." 

"Quite all right." Dumbledore made a nice comfortable love seat, just right for two, grow out of the floor. "Do sit down, both of you." He produced two more chairs, and pointed to one of them. "You too, Dawn." He waited for all the girls to be seated before he sat himself in the remaining chair. He turned his attention back to Willow. "_Most_ extraordinary!" 

Willow shook her head. "No, I'm not—" 

"Modesty is all well and good, Miss Rosenberg, but when it gets in the way of someone recognising their own abilities, it should be cast aside. Your friend was very nearly correct downstairs when she said that you needed to only look in a mirror to see power greater than mine." 

"_Very_ nearly?" asked Kennedy. 

"At the moment, Miss Rosenberg has a great deal of potential power, but it will take study, and time for her to fully master it, make it real power. Learn to be able to control it, without it controlling her. She has already made great strides in that direction. I have never met anyone so young who could do what she just did." 

"Um…what did she do?" asked Dawn. 

"She absorbed a great deal of magic into herself, and then she simply…released it," said Professor Dumbledore. "She let it flow back out into her environment, with almost no effect on it, and very minor effects on herself. It takes an enormous level of control to be able to do something like that, and an enormous level of talent to be even aware of the energy flowing around her." 

"It's all over," said Willow. "I can always feel a little, no matter where I go, but the concentration here…I haven't felt anything this strong since we left Sunnydale, but the energy here…it's so much…cleaner!" 

"And that makes you doubly extraordinary," said Dumbledore. "Growing up around all that dark magic, and not succumbing to it." 

Willow hung her head. "I nearly did…if not for Xander." 

"Yes, well, in the end, we pretty much all would succumb to something, if not for our friends," said Dumbledore. 

"So do you want me to come to school here?" asked Willow. "Like Dawnie?" 

"No, Miss Rosenberg," said Professor Dumbledore. "No. I would have been delighted to have you for a student ten years ago, but now, I'm afraid it's too late." 

"What do you mean?" asked Willow. 

Dumbledore pointed to a large book, lying open on a stand. "Could you fetch me that book please?" 

Willow frowned, and started to get up. "Okay." 

"No, no!" said Dumbledore. "Stay seated. Use your magic." 

Willow looked puzzled. "I don't like using magic for little things…that's what led me into trouble last time." 

"I am aware of that," said Dumbledore, "but I want to illustrate a very important point. Go ahead." 

Willow shrugged. "You're the Headmaster." The book rose off the stand and floated across to Dumbledore. He caught it in his hands. 

"You see?" said Dumbledore. "There isn't a student, or professor in this school who could have done what you just did. They all would have had to use their wands, and most would have had to use in incantation." 

"I started out having to use incantations for everything," said Willow. "But once I've done something a few times, it becomes unnecessary. I've never used a wand to do anything." 

"Incantations work the same way with wizards," said Dumbledore. "They don't _actually_ do anything, magically speaking. The magic is done in the mind. 'Hocus pocus' would work as well as 'Accio' in a Summoning Charm, if you learned it with 'Hocus pocus.'" 

Dawn frowned. "So why is Professor Flitwick always correcting my pronunciation, if the actual words don't matter?" 

Dumbledore smiled. "The words have a Pavlovian effect on your mind. Professor Flitwick isn't _correcting_ your pronunciation, he's _changing_ it. Making subtle adjustments until you find the pronunciation that has the desired effect for you. Pay attention next class to the way all your classmates pronounce their spells. No two will do it exactly the same. But once they have learned the spell, repeating the words helps put their minds into the right state to perform the magic. But with greater practice you learn to put your mind into the correct state without the crutch of saying the words." 

"Okay, but what about wands?" asked Willow. "Why won't a wand work for me?" 

"A wand is a tool," said Dumbledore. "A conduit. It channels the magic from within the wizard, and focuses it outward. But your magic doesn't work that way. You don't use your own internal magic. You reach out into the world around you, gather magic from it, and you channel it yourself. In effect, you are your own wand. For you, using a wand would be like putting water wings on a duck. 

"What you do is a very rare form of magic. It is ancient and powerful, but very few have the ability to do it, and fewer still learn to control it before it consumes them. There is only one student in Hogwarts now who may have the ability, and the potential to control it, and he is the first I've seen in many decades." 

"Who?" asked Dawn. 

"It is best that I not say," said Dumbledore. "It is a talent that must be nurtured very carefully. To push him along too quickly could lead to disaster." 

"But what I do isn't that rare," said Willow. "There are several witches in the Devon Coven who can do it too." 

"Nearly anyone can learn to play _Chopsticks_ on a piano," said Dumbledore. "Very few can become concert pianists. The Wiccan way of doing magic, is very much like teaching people to play _Chopsticks_. No one else in the Devon Coven comes close to your ability, though there are not a few who do have some talent. Miss Harkness was considered for admission to Hogwarts during my predecessor's tenure as Headmaster, but it was decided at the time not to admit her. I have met her since, and I believe that a mistake was made, but she has done a very fine job of finding her own way." 

"So, why did you want me to come here?" asked Willow. 

"Firstly, I had to meet you for myself, to see if everything I had heard about you was true," said Professor Dumbledore. "I had to find out if Miss Harkness, and your friends were exaggerating your abilities." 

"And were they?" asked Kennedy. 

"If anything, I think they underestimate her," said Dumbledore. 

"So now that you've seen me, what do you want from me?" asked Willow. 

"I want you to teach me," said Dumbledore. 

"You want _me_ to teach _you?_" asked Willow. "Do you think you can learn to do my sort of magic?" 

"No," said Dumbledore. "I am too old a dog to learn that new trick. But I need to learn as much as I can about how you successfully learned to control your magic. As I said, it has been many decades since anyone with your abilities has passed through Hogwarts, and now I have a student who may need to learn to control magic as you do. I was the Transfiguration Professor last time we saw someone like you, and quite frankly their education was botched, badly. I hope to avoid the mistakes made in the past." 

* * *

Dawn accompanied Willow and Kennedy back to their room, and they sat around for an hour talking about old times, and how all their friends were doing. Dawn had only had sporadic contact with Buffy since she'd left Hogwarts. The easiest way to contact her once she left on her world tour had been via Willow, who was keeping in touch with her by email. 

"Speaking of," said Willow. "Time to see if there's anything new from her." She pulled her computer out of her bag, and opened it up. 

"Uh, that won't work here," said Dawn. 

"That's what you think," said Willow. She pushed the power button, and Dawn heard the startup chime. 

"_How'd you do that?_" asked Dawn. 

Willow wiggled her eyebrows. "Magic, of course." 

"Yeah, but Hermione and I have gotten almost nowhere with our project. How'd you do that?" 

"If I told you, it would be cheating," said Willow. "I can recommend a couple of books though." She dug into her bag and pulled out a large volume. She handed it over to Dawn. 

Dawn looked at the book. "_Principles of Quantum Mechanics_?" 

"Yeah," said Willow. "After thinking about it a bit, I realized that the problem with getting electronics to work in a magical environment had to do with magic's effects on quantum level interactions. And don't worry too much about the math. You just have to read the introductory chapters, that give an overview of just what QM is. The other book you'll need is _Magic vs. Quantum Mechanics: Two World Views Collide_. I found it in _Flourish & Blotts_, but they said that the library here should have it." 

Willow's computer finished booting, and she logged in. She opened up her email application. "Oh! A new message from Buffy. She says she's in Costa Rica…Caridad says to say 'Hi!'" 

"You've got internet working too?" asked Dawn. 

"Oh yeah." Willow reached into her bag and pulled out something that looked like a pen. "Here, once you get your computer working, plug this into the Ethernet port, and you're online. Configure your system just like you would for a regular Ethernet connection. Uh…you'll have a fixed IP address. It's on the dongle." 

"Uh…isn't this cheating too?" Dawn looked at the device Willow had given her. It had an RJ45 plug on the end of it and was hinged so it wouldn't stick straight out the back of her computer. 

"No, your project is to get your computer working, and you have to do that for that to work," said Willow. "It's also has to be one of a matched pair. The mate to that is plugged into a hub in Althenea's cottage, and from there you've got a DSL link to the internet." 

Dawn left after using Willow's computer to send an email message to Buffy. It was getting late, and she had to get up for classes next day. Kennedy turned to Willow as soon as she was gone. "So, you wanna try out that bathtub now?" 


	37. Halloween Dreams

Willow and Kennedy sat in on Dawn's Transfiguration and Charms classes on Monday morning. Willow was fascinated as she watched and felt the magic flowing around her, directed by the students' wands, but she could feel that Kennedy was quickly becoming bored with it. Sure it was neat to see a hedgehog get turned into a pincushion, but after the dozenth time it started to get a little old…even if some of the students' failed attempts were quite amusing. 

Watching the students attempt to summon pillows and such in Charms class was even more boring for Kennedy. They weren't really doing anything that she hadn't seen Willow do a zillion times, (and for the most part the pillows weren't getting summoned at all, really.) 

Dawn knew that Kennedy was bored, and she knew that the afternoon would be worse for her: Willow was going to be shut up with Dumbledore, and Dawn had Potions and Muggle Studies. Professor Snape wouldn't be happy having Kennedy observing his classes…none of the Professors aside from Dumbledore and Lupin had any idea that Kennedy was a Slayer. They mostly thought her being there was just an indulgence for Willow. They did know that Willow was there as a practitioner of wandless magic, and Willow had participated in both the Charms and Transfiguration classes, demonstrating some of her abilities for the students, and Professors Flitwick and McGonagall. 

Rather than put Kennedy through her afternoon classes, Dawn introduced her to Hagrid at lunch, and suggested that she spend the afternoon sitting in on his Care of Magical Creatures classes. They would be much more interesting for her than Dawn's afternoon classes. Later that afternoon, when Dawn looked out one of the windows during the break between Potions and Muggle Studies she saw Kennedy flying around the castle on Buckbeak. 

Kennedy joined Dawn for her afternoon run. "So, Magical Creatures more fun than Summoning Charms?" asked Dawn as they left the castle. 

"Much!" said Kennedy. "And Hagrid's really fun too…can't say I like his cooking though." 

Dawn laughed. "Hagrid is the only one who can eat anything he cooks." They set out to follow Dawn's old route around the grounds. Since Trei had started popping up pretty much anywhere when she was running on her own, Dawn had started taking different routes, exploring more of the grounds, but with Kennedy along she figured Trei would be sticking to the paddock. 

"So, what do you do for fun around here?" asked Kennedy. 

"There's flying, and Quidditch," said Dawn. "We're going to finish this run at the Quidditch pitch, so you can see the practice. I've been teaching a martial arts class a couple of evenings a week. You can come to that too, if you promise not to go all Drill Sergeant Kennedy. It's mostly just a bunch of kids doing it for fun, we aren't preparing them for a life or death struggle against the Ultimate Evil here." 

"I'll behave," said Kennedy. "What else?" 

"Friday's Halloween, and we get the day off, and can go into town," said Dawn. "Halloween is a big holiday in the wizarding world…kinda like Thanksgiving…which they don't do here." 

"I know," said Kennedy. "I spent a year in England before…before my Watcher got killed." 

Dawn looked at Kennedy, and saw the sadness. It wasn't something that Kennedy let people see very often. Dawn said nothing, and kept running. They reached the paddock, and started running along the fence. Trei soon joined them, keeping inside the paddock, but coming a lot closer than she had when Buffy had been there a month earlier. Dawn stopped to feed her a carrot, and to give her ears a scratch before continuing on their run. 

* * *

Kennedy sat in on the DADA classes with Professor Lupin the next morning, and went back to the Care of Magical Creatures classes with Hagrid in the afternoon. She found both classes to be much more to her taste than any of the other things taught in Hogwarts. 

Ginny got to spar with Kennedy that afternoon. It came as a bit of a shock to her. The sessions with Buffy, and the following month of sparring with Dawn had really built her confidence to the level where she thought she could go up against pretty much anyone. Kennedy demolished her defenses, while not letting any of her attacks break through. Ginny was feeling pretty dejected later that evening. They sat together in their room while Hermione was off somewhere with Ron. 

"Hey, don't worry about it," said Dawn. 

"But she damn near _killed_ me!" said Ginny. "I sucked!" 

"No you didn't," said Dawn. "Kennedy has had _years_ of training. You've had two months." 

"With Buffy…I felt like I had a chance of getting to be that good," said Ginny. "Kennedy just takes apart everything I try to do." 

"Kennedy never learned to temper herself," said Dawn. "She was trained for years before she was called, and all that training told her she had to go all out. Try her hardest all the time. Never give her opponent a break. Buffy never got any training before she was called, and she's got almost eight years of experience training with people less capable than her. She knows when to hold back." 

"You're saying Buffy went easy on me?" asked Ginny. 

"Yeah, she did," said Dawn. "Buffy is the best Slayer alive. I've seen her sparring with Kennedy, and Kennedy does about as well against her as you did against Kennedy tonight. Faith can hold her own against Buffy, but she can't beat her." 

"Faith?" asked Ginny. 

"Uh…she's the Slayer who got called a few years ago because Buffy refuses to stay dead," said Dawn. "That's not important. The thing is, give you another six months, or a year of practice, and you'll be just as good as Kennedy is now." 

"You're not just saying that?" asked Ginny. 

"No, I mean it," said Dawn. "Did you notice how Kennedy always drops her left shoulder a bit before she punches with her right?" 

* * *

The next few training sessions with Kennedy went better for Ginny. They layed in extra evening sessions in addition to her normal afternoon ones with Dawn. Ginny managed to surprise Kennedy a couple of times by anticipating her attacks, and being ready to counter them. Dawn tried sparring a little with Kennedy, to see if she _was_ capable of holding back a bit when fighting with someone who didn't have a Slayer's resiliency. She didn't want Kennedy anywhere near a DA meeting if she couldn't hold back. Kennedy demolished Dawn even more easily than she had Ginny, but she managed to do it without breaking any of Dawn's bones, or bruising her too badly, so Dawn decided it was safe to let her near the other students. 

Kennedy surprised Dawn by holding back even more when they gave a demonstration match for the DA martial arts class. To most of the kids watching it looked like Dawn and Kennedy were pretty evenly matched (even though Kennedy didn't go so far as to let Dawn actually appear to beat her.) They were down to a dozen kids in those sessions, and they were all suitably impressed. Kennedy was also surprisingly good at passing on a few lessons to the kids, with very little of her Drill Sergeant persona showing through. 

* * *

Friday morning dawned bright and clear. Dawn looked out from her bedroom window and saw the frost was quickly vanishing from the grass of the lawn. Much of the green of the leaves on the trees had turned to yellow or gold, but they hadn't started to fall yet. The main topic at breakfast that morning was everyone's plans for visiting Hogsmeade. Dawn was looking forward to having another look around the town. 

Willow and Kennedy went with them into town. They spent the day exploring it. Willow was thrilled by some of the magical items she found in _Dervish & Banges_ as well as the candies available in _Honeydukes_. She was slightly less impressed with the sort of clothing available in _Gladrags Wizardwear_: she didn't think wizard styles agreed with her. Ron and Ginny were excited to discover that _Zonko's_ was now carrying the _Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes_ line of products, though they charged more for them than Fred and George did in their shop in Diagon Alley. They didn't buy anything, since they could order all that stuff from their brothers, at wholesale rates. Dawn did pick up something while the others were all distracted by someone setting off some Dungbombs in the shop. 

They had lunch in the _Three Broomsticks_. When it was over the others showed Dawn, Willow and Kennedy the Shrieking Shack…supposedly the most haunted house in Britain, though it had been quiet for twenty years now. 

"It isn't really haunted," said Hermione quietly. "That was just a story made up to keep people away from it. The howls people heard from it every month were really Professor Lupin. That's were they used to shut him up during the full moon, when he was a student here, before Wolfsbane Potion was invented." 

* * *

They returned to the school at the end of the day, with plenty of time to get ready for the Halloween feast. 

Dawn had already had a couple of exposures to the sorts of feasts that could be layed on in Hogwarts, so she wasn't too surprised by the food that appeared on the tables. Willow on the other hand had never seen anything like it, and unlike her Thanksgiving experiences, this feast was completely guilt free. Kennedy had seen some pretty good meals served up on special occasions in her family's homes, but this one impressed even her. 

After the remains of the meal were cleared away, and the younger students were sent back to their dorms there was a dance for the senior students. Some eyebrows were definitely raised by the way Willow and Kennedy were seen dancing together. Willow overheard a couple of boys making some snide comments, but they went very silent after they saw her eyes flash at them. 

The dance ended at midnight. Dawn and her friends escorted Willow and Kennedy up to their room, and said goodnight to them at the painting of the mermaids. Willow and Kennedy started to enter their room. 

"Oh, just a sec." Dawn reached into her pocket, and pulled out a bag that Harry saw came from _Zonko's_. "I got you some Halloween candy." She handed the bag to Willow. 

"Thank's Dawnie!" Willow took the bag. "Kinda sweeted out already today though." 

"Oh, trust me," Dawn had a big grin on her face. "You guy's will want to try a couple of those before you go to bed." 

"Alright," said Willow. "Well, good night. See you in the morning." She and Kennedy entered their room, and the painting closed behind them. 

Dawn started back toward the stairs up to the seventh floor. Harry came up beside her. "Okay, what did you give them?" 

"A couple of dozen Ton Tongue Toffees," said Dawn. 

"A couple of dozen?" asked Harry. "But no one ever eats more than one of those things!" 

Dawn grinned. "Oh, I think they'll want to eat more than one. I just hope I got them enough. Maybe I should talk to Fred and George. Special Order some longer lasting ones." 

Hermione suddenly turned red. "Oh, they wouldn't!" 

Dawn smiled at her. "I used to sleep in the room just down the hall from them. They will." 

* * *

Willow lay blissfully snuggled up against her Little Slayer, resting her head on Kennedy's chest. She could hear Kennedy's steady heartbeat beneath her breast. She really had to find a way to properly thank Dawn for those toffees…and find out where to get more of them. She smiled at the memory of Kennedy's reaction to seeing what had happened to Willow's tongue when she had tried one of the toffees Dawn had given her. 

The old Watchers' Council would have had fits if they'd known about her and Kennedy's relationship. Willow was now officially Kennedy's Watcher, and in the old rules Watcher/Slayer liaisons were strictly verboten, with very stiff penalties…up to death for Watchers who violated that rule. Of course that sort of relationship was still forbidden, but there was now an exception in the books for cases where the Slayer was over eighteen, and the relationship predated the Watcher being appointed. The same exception allowed for Faith's relationship with Robin Wood…not that any rule book would stop Faith from laying anyone she wanted to lay. 

Willow was starting to doze off when she felt Kennedy tense, and heard her heartbeat accelerate. 

* * *

Kennedy moved slowly through an underground passage. The walls were damp, and the air smelled of mold and mildew. It was nearly pitch dark, and she could hear the sound of dripping water. A glimmer of light flickered up ahead. She moved toward it. 

* * *

Ginny peered around a corner in the passage. She could now see that the light came from some torches up ahead. She moved toward them, her feet splashing slightly in the shallow puddles of water on the ground. 

* * *

Kennedy approached the dozen or so hooded men holding the torches. They were bowed before a slender figure with bleached, bone white skin visible beneath its hood, burning red eyes, and slits for nostrils. She thought at first it might be a demon, but something about it felt human to her. Vile and corrupt, but human, with something else added. It felt serpentine. There was what looked at first to be a body lying on the ground in front of him, but Kennedy saw a flicker of motion. The figure pointed a wand at it. 

* * *

"_Crucio!_" 

Ginny watched the man writhe in agony, and heard his screams as Voldemort's Cruciatus Curse wracked his body with waves of agony. She saw the hooded and masked Death Eaters looking on. Some of them seemed impassive, not caring what happened to the man on the ground. She could feel pleasure emanating from the others. They were rejoicing in the pain their master was inflicting. 

The man on the floor suddenly went still, and his cries ceased. Ginny knew that he would never feel pain again. 

* * *

Harry looked down at the dead man in front of him. He felt rage building, nearly overwhelming him. The man had died without revealing the last bit of information he needed. He glared at the Death Eaters cowering before him. "_The Key is in Hogwarts!_" he hissed. "_Find it!_" 


	38. The Key

Dawn became aware of a scratching sound, and a dim light behind her. She rolled over in bed and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She saw Ginny sitting in her bed, writing in her dream journal. "It couldn't wait till morning?" she asked sleepily. 

Ginny held up her left hand toward her. "Quiet! Let me get this down. I think this one was important." She kept writing. 

Dawn lay watching Ginny writing for a few more minutes. Then Ginny got out of her bed and came toward Dawn. She handed her the notebook. "Here, tell me what you think." 

"Rule was that this was private," said Dawn. "You didn't have to show it to anyone." 

"And if you read any page but the one the book is open to, we'll have an 'accident' in our next sparring session," said Ginny. "But I think you should read that." 

Dawn looked at the notebook. She started to read. 
    
    
    Dark passage, underground
    Ancient stonework
    Wet, moldy, water dripping, puddles on floor.
    Flickering light ahead
    Torches, held by masked Death Eaters
    about a dozen
    Voldemort, torturing a man with Crucio Curse
    Man dies
    'The Key is at Hogwarts. Find it!'
    
    

Ginny saw the colour drain from Dawn's face. 

* * *

Willow's eyes had gone wide. "The Key?" she asked. 

"That's what the snake guy said," said Kennedy. "'The Key is in Hogwarts. Find it!'" 

Willow was out of their bed, and reaching for her robe. "We have to find Dawn!" She was out the door before she had the robe on. 

Willow ran up the stairs, and down the corridor to the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Let me in!" 

The Fat Lady had been napping. She started awake, and looked at Willow. "Password?" 

"I don't know the frilly password!" said Willow. "Let me in!" 

"No one may enter without the password," said the Fat Lady. 

"So announce me!" said Willow. "I have to talk to Dawn!" 

"All the students are in bed," said the Fat Lady. "I cannot let you in without the password." 

Kennedy caught up with Willow. She had taken a little time to pull on a t-shirt and boxer shorts. "Will, what's happening?" 

"I have to talk to Dawn!" said Willow. She reached out with her mind. She had been observing the password spells for nearly a week now, and she thought she knew how they worked. She directed a little power into the painting. 

The Fat Lady shrieked. "You can't do that!" 

The painting swung open, and Willow directed a humourless grin at her. "Yes I can." She ran through the portrait hole into the Gryffindor common room. She stopped and looked around. She had no idea which way to go from here. 

Willow heard a sound coming from one of the stairwells. She started toward it, and saw Harry and Ron coming out of it, both of them dressed in their pajamas. Harry was looking pretty unsteady, and had a hand pressed to his forehead. Ron looked like he was keeping Harry from falling over. 

"It's Voldemort!" Harry was telling Ron. "He's after something called the Key! I have to see Dumbledore!" He stopped when he saw Willow and Kennedy. "What are you doing here?" 

"Voldemort is a snake guy?" asked Willow. 

"Uh, yeah?" said Ron. He was looking very confused. 

"Okay, wait here! Uh, where's Dawn?" 

Ron pointed to the stairway to the girls' rooms. "Up there?" 

Willow looked at Kennedy. "Stay here, don't let them go anywhere!" She ran to the stairs. 

Once she was on the stairway Willow noticed there was light coming from a room above her. She ran up the stairs, and burst into it. "Dawn!" 

Dawn, Ginny and Hermione all looked toward her. "Willow?" asked Dawn "What are you doing up here?" 

"Kennedy had a dream," said Willow. She saw the three girls exchange a look. 

Dawn held out a note book toward her. "This it?" 

Willow scanned down the page. The details all matched pretty well with what Kennedy had told her, except Kennedy hadn't put names to the Death Eaters or Voldemort. "Uh, yeah." She looked at Ginny. "You too?" 

Ginny nodded. 

Willow frowned. "It wasn't just you guys. Harry's downstairs. He seems to have gotten this too." 

Hermione's eyes went wide. "His scar!" She ran from the room. 

"What?" asked Willow to Dawn and Ginny's backs as they ran after Hermione. 

Willow caught up with everyone in the common room. The candles had all come on, and there was a bright fire in the fireplace now. Everyone was sitting around Harry, checking on how he was. "What's going on?" she asked. 

Kennedy looked up at her. "Seems Harry had the same dream I had." 

"And me," said Ginny. 

"Why's Harry having Slayer Dreams?" asked Willow. 

Harry shook his head. "Not Slayer. Voldemort. I have Voldemort Dreams." He pressed his hand against his forehead again. 

"I thought the Occlumency lessons were helping," said Hermione. 

"They were," said Harry. "But he was _really_ excited this time, and then he got really mad when the man died too soon." 

"He died too soon?" asked Willow. 

"Yeah," said Harry. "He died before he could tell Voldemort the last bit of information he needed, on just where the Key was." 

"How do you know that?" asked Kennedy. "I saw him torturing the man, and then he said 'The Key is in Hogwarts.'" 

Harry grimaced. "I see everything from Voldemort's point of view. I feel what he's feeling. I think what he's thinking. He knows the Key is hidden somewhere here. He doesn't know where." 

"What's the Key?" asked Hermione. 

Silence fell over the group. Kennedy looked at Willow, and saw Willow was looking at Dawn. Kennedy looked around at the others and saw that Ginny was looking at Dawn too. Harry, Ron and Hermione were looking as confused as she felt. "You guys know," Kennedy said to Willow. 

"Uh…yeah, I know," said Willow. She glanced at Dawn again and saw a slight shake of her head. "But I can't tell you. It has to be a secret." 

"You don't trust me?" asked Kennedy. 

"I do baby!" said Willow. "But it's not my secret to share. I've given my word not to tell anyone." 

Kennedy looked at Dawn. "You know too." 

"I can neither confirm nor deny," said Dawn. 

Willow was hit by a horrible thought. "Kennedy…could you recognise _who_ was being tortured? Could you tell if it was someone you knew?" 

Kennedy frowned for a moment. "No…I mean it wasn't anyone I know. I couldn't see him that well, but I'm pretty sure I didn't know him." 

Willow breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank god." Giles and Xander were the only men she knew who knew about the Key, and she was sure that both of them would die before they told anyone where to find it. She thought for a second. "What did he look like?" 

"Just a guy," said Kennedy. "I wasn't that close, but he looked like he was maybe twenty-five…white, dark hair, medium build…something weird about his clothes…medieval looking." 

"Yeah," said Ginny. "He wasn't dressed like a wizard or a Muggle." 

"He had a mark on his forehead. Some sort of tatoo or something." Harry stopped rubbing his scar for a moment, and ran his fingers across his forehead indicating where it was. 

"_Shit!_" said Willow. Kennedy gave her a sharp look. Willow almost never swore like that. 

"Byzantium," said Dawn. "How'd they track it here?" 

"I don't know," said Willow. "We have to contact Buffy…if she had the dream too, she'll be freaking." 

"Where is she?" asked Dawn. 

"If she's on schedule…Shanghai," said Willow. 

"What time is it there?" 

Willow closed her eyes and thought for a bit, visualizing the time zones. "About nine AM." 

"So she may have been awake," said Dawn. 

"Depends on how jet-lagged she is," said Willow. "We should tell her everything is okay or she'll be jumping on the first plane for Britain when she does find out. Who knows how many other Slayers had that dream, and they're all supposed to report strange dreams to her." 

"Why don't you send a message to Miss Summers when you go back to your room to get dressed," said Professor Dumbledore. "Then we can all meet in my office in half an hour." 

Everyone looked around. No one had noticed him enter the common room. Willow was surprised to see he was dressed in a colourful dressing gown, not too unlike the robes he usually wore, and fuzzy pink bunny slippers. 

* * *

Professor Lupin was waiting in Dumbledore's office when they got there. Dumbledore had seats, and mugs of hot chocolate ready for everyone when they arrived. He somehow even knew to leave the marshmallows out of Dawn's. He let them all get settled down, and have their first sips before he asked what had happened. 

Kennedy and Ginny described their dreams. Harry stayed quiet, letting them do all the talking. Dumbledore turned to him when they were done. "And you had this dream too?" 

"Yes," said Harry. "Except I saw it all through Voldemort's eyes." He rubbed his scar, which was still aching. "Felt what he was feeling while he tortured that man." 

"A Knight of Byzantium," said Willow. 

"Who are they?" asked Kennedy. 

"An ancient order, dedicated to the destruction of the Key," said Willow. 

"And what's this Key?" asked Hermione. "You and Dawn seem to be the only ones who know what it is." 

Willow looked at Dawn. 

"The Key is an ancient artefact of great power," said Dawn. "No one really knows anymore just what all it can do." 

"And you brought this Key to Hogwarts?" asked Hermione. 

"The Key was brought to Hogwarts, at my request," said Professor Dumbledore, "when Buffy, Dawn and Mr. Giles first visited us this summer." 

"Where is it?" asked Ron. 

"Right now…it is here in my office," said Dumbledore. "More than that I will not tell you." He smiled as Harry, Ron and Hermione started looking around, trying to see if they could spot anything new that had been added since last year. 

"The real question is: 'What does Voldemort want with the Key?'" said Willow. 

"The Key is powerful," said Dumbledore. "That alone will be enough to make Voldemort covet it." 

Harry shook his head. "No, it was more than that. There's some _reason_ he wants it." 

"Your dreams of Voldemort are not reliable," Dumbledore reminded Harry. "What you saw in his mind could have been placed there to fool you." 

"I know he did that last year," said Harry, "but Ginny and Kennedy had the dream too. Could he fool them?" 

"That the man was tortured, I do not doubt," said Dumbledore. "But we must treat with caution anything you saw in Voldemort's mind." 

"But he wouldn't know about the Slayers having the same dream would he?" asked Professor Lupin. "His thoughts about his motives would have to be lain over top of what he was actually doing. Why would he do that? What could he hope to accomplish from warning us that he is looking for the Key?" 

"Perhaps he is aware of how Harry and his friends can not leave a mystery alone." Dumbledore turned has attention back to the students. "By giving you a mystery, he could hope that you would lead him to the Key. I must ask you not to attempt to locate the Key for yourselves. I want you to give me your words." 

One by one, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny promised Professor Dumbledore that they wouldn't go looking for the Key. He looked at Dawn. "And you Miss Summers?" 

Dawn looked startled, and then she realized what Dumbledore was doing. It might be suspicious if he didn't get her word too. "Fine, I won't go looking for the Key." That was an easy promise to make, since the Key was always where she was. 

"Thank you," said Dumbledore. "Well, it is very late, and three of you have a Quidditch game to play tomorrow. I suggest that you all go back to bed." 

* * *

They all paused at Willow and Kennedy's room long enough for Willow to check to see if she'd received a reply to the message she had sent Buffy. She hadn't. Willow sent the kids off to bed, while she sent of a second email, telling Buffy about the meeting with Dumbledore before she climbed back into bed with Kennedy. 

* * *

Dawn and the others arrived back in the Gryffindor common room. "So, can you tell us any more about this Key?" asked Ron. 

"Not really," said Dawn. "And I thought we promised Dumbledore not to go looking for it." 

"We did," said Ron, "but we didn't say anything about not trying to learn more about it, or why Voldemort wants it." 

"And what about those Byzantium guys?" asked Harry. "You and Willow didn't like hearing that they were involved." 

"Yeah, well, we were really hoping that they'd decided that the Key had been destroyed a few years ago," said Dawn. "And if they don't believe that, and they know it's here…we're going to have to find out just what they know, and what they plan to do about it." 

"I guess we're going to have to go see if we can find anything in the library on the Key, or these Knights," said Hermione. 


	39. Gryffindor vs Slytherin

Dawn lay awake in her bed for a long time after returning to her room. Something evil was coming after the Key again…coming after her. The only bright side of this situation was at the moment, the bad guys had no idea that the Key was in human form…but if the Knights of Byzantium had tracked it to Hogwarts, maybe they _did_ know she was the Key. 

When Dawn finally dozed off her sleep was troubled by dreams. Nightmares she hadn't had for over a year. Nightmares about Glory, and watching helplessly as she had slaughtered twenty or so Knights outside the abandoned gas station in the desert, or being tied at the top of the tower, while Doc smiled at her as his knife made shallow cuts across her sides to let her blood pour free. She relived watching Buffy jump into the portal time and again, only in her nightmares Buffy's sacrifice hadn't been enough. 

* * *

Dawn got out of bed after nine the next morning. Hermione was already up and gone, but Ginny was still in bed, and looking like her sleep was as troubled as Dawn's had been. Dawn didn't wonder at that. She had been reliving the experiences of years ago, but Ginny had witnessed a man being tortured to death last night. She couldn't dismiss it as being just a dream. They were all sure that what Ginny and the others had dreamed had really happened. Dawn left Ginny tossing in her bed while she went to have her morning shower. 

Ginny was awake when Dawn came out of the bathroom. Dawn saw that she was writing in her Dream Journal again. Dawn was tempted to ask what she was writing, but she kept herself from doing so. If it was something Ginny wanted to talk to her about, she would do so. Instead Dawn started to get dressed for the day. 

Ginny closed her journal and put it on her desk beside her bed. Dawn finally spoke to her. "You look like shit." 

Ginny flashed a wan smile back at Dawn. "That's good. I feel worse." 

"Go have your shower," said Dawn. "It'll help." 

"You think?" asked Ginny. 

"I speak from experience here," said Dawn. "A good shower, and a good breakfast work wonders at getting you feeling human again after a shitty night's sleep. Hurry up, I'm hungry." 

* * *

Harry was coming out of the boys' dorms at the same time Dawn and Ginny entered the common room. He was looking like his sleep hadn't been any better than theirs, and he kept rubbing the scar on his forehead. They went down to the Great Hall together. When they got there they saw Ron and the rest of the Quidditch team sitting a little way off from the rest of the people at the Gryffindor table. 

"Er…Ginny and I really should join them," said Harry. He looked a little guilty. 

"No! Go!" said Dawn. "It'll do you good. Get your mind off Moldywart." She gave him a quick kiss. "I'll see you later." She left Harry and Ginny to go join Willow, Kennedy and Hermione. 

Dawn sat down beside Willow. "So, you hear from Buffy?" 

"Yes," said Willow, "and it's good thing she couldn't book a flight till this evening, or she'd be half way here by now." 

"She's coming?" asked Dawn. She wasn't sure how she felt about that. She wanted to see Buffy again, but she didn't like the idea her dropping everything and coming running at the slightest hint of danger to Dawn, like she felt Dawn couldn't take care of herself. 

"I think I talked her out of it," said Willow. "If she starts travelling now, she's going to be totally out of touch for at least two thirds of a day, and the threat doesn't seem to be very immediate." She smiled across the table at Kennedy. "And we already have a Slayer on the scene." 

"Um…the first part of that argument was kinda self contradictory," said Hermione. "Either the threat isn't imminent, in which case it doesn't matter if Buffy takes herself out of contact, or it is imminent, and she should get here as quickly as possible." 

"Yeah, I know that," Willow smiled. "But logical thought has never been one of Buffy's strongest traits." She went back to eating her breakfast. "She's supposed to join us in a chat session at one, to talk about this some more. I also want to talk to Professor Dumbledore again, see if we can arrange some magical transportation for her. If we have a way of contacting her, and getting her here quickly if anything happens, it might be easier to convince her that she doesn't have to come right away." 

"Signalling her is easy enough," said Hermione. "We could use something like the Galleons I charmed for notifying the DA about meetings last year. I could charm a coin so it will get warm when we need her, and display a small message." 

"I think Buffy will want something that will work, even if she's asleep," said Dawn. 

"Maybe charm her cell phone," said Willow. "Make it so you can call and talk to her from here." 

"Can you do that?" asked Hermione. 

"Willow can do anything," said Kennedy. 

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, baby, but I'm not so sure," said Willow. "I think I'll have to consult with Professors Flitwick and Dumbledore about it. Assuming that will work, next we have to be able to get her here." 

"Portkey," said Hermione. 

"What's that?" asked Kennedy. 

"Magical teleportation device," said Hermione. "You can create them to transport someone anywhere when activated. We can get Professor Dumbledore to make one that can bring Buffy here." 

"Right into Hogwarts?" asked Dawn. "I thought you couldn't teleport into Hogwarts." 

"You can't _apparate_ into Hogwarts," said Hermione. "Professor Dumbledore can make Portkeys that will transport someone here." 

"Okay, so we can call Buffy, and have a way to get her here just as quickly as she could come if she were actually _staying_ here, so I think we can probably talk her out of coming right now," said Dawn. "And with the cell phone thing, I'll be able to call her up, and just talk, which will be nice too." Something suddenly ocurred to Dawn. "Wait a minute…You said the chat was at one?" Willow nodded. "That's right in the middle of the Quidditch game!" 

"Come on Dawn," said Willow. "What's more important? Voldemort trying to get the Key, or some game?" 

Dawn pointed her thumb down the table to where Harry and the rest of the team seemed to be engrossed in a strategy session for the upcoming game. "Well, I know what _they'd_ say." She looked at Hermione. "Quidditch!" they said together. 

"And we're probably going to want to have Harry and Ginny in on this," said Dawn. "Buffy's gonna want to hear from them about their dreams and stuff, and we can't pull them out of the game without the whole school noticing something's up." 

Willow sighed. "Good point. Alright, I'll send Buffy another email, arrange a different time. Will the game be over by four?" 

"Probably," said Hermione. "Can't say for sure though. Some Quidditch games have gone on for days. The record is six months. That game wasn't actually won by anyone: both teams just got fed up with it and quit. School games are suspended at sunset, and resume at sunrise the next day if no one has caught the Snitch, but that hasn't happened for years." She glanced up at the overcast sky. "Most often long games are the result of bad visibility from rain or snow. If the rain holds off, it should be over fairly quickly." 

"I'll make it for five then," said Willow. "That'll be midnight, Shanghai time. Good thing Buffy's a night person." 

* * *

Harry was looking up too. He was having mixed feelings about the overcast sky. While he definitely preferred playing in fair weather, he knew that Malfoy really hated playing in the rain. He could put up with a little discomfort, if it made Malfoy miserable. 

He turned his attention back to his teammates. "Okay, the weather looks a little unsettled at the moment, but weather is neutral, it affects both teams the same. If it does start to rain though, it's going to make it harder for Ginny to spot the Snitch…" 

* * *

It still hadn't started to rain when Dawn settled into her seat between Willow and Hermione in the stands, but the clouds were getting darker. There was cold wind blowing, but this time Harry had loaned her one of his Weasley Jumpers, which she was wearing under her winter cloak. Kennedy had plenty of past experience with British weather, and had made sure that Willow packed warm clothes. 

Dawn raised Harry's omnioculars to her eyes, and scanned around the pitch with them. She twiddled a bit with the knobs, learning how to control the zoom, slow motion, and instant replay features. After a bit she decided to leave most of the knobs alone, and just use them as if they were a regular pair of binoculars. Willow had Ron's and was looking around in a similar fashion. 

Rob Harding's voice boomed across the pitch. "Welcome everyone to the first game of the Hogwarts' Quidditch season! We expect to see an exciting match today between two teams with a long standing rivalry: Slytherin and Gryffindor!" A wave of cheers and boos for both teams swept through the stands. 

"Today's match is being refereed by Madam Hootch, and your humble commentator is yours truly, Rob Harding!" 

Rob introduced the players for each team as they came out onto the pitch. From the level of cheering Dawn could tell that the Gryffindor team was the favourite among the crowd. Most of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were cheering for them, as well as all the Gryffindor students in the stands. Hardly anyone outside the Slytherin section was cheering for their team. 

Dawn scanned her omnioculars across the two teams. The most obvious difference between them was the size. She guessed that the average weight of the Slytherin players was almost twice that of the Gryffindor players. Most of the Gryffindors looked tiny next to the Slytherins. Jack and Andrew were the only two Gryffindor players who came close to being the same size as most of the Slytherins. 

The last player to be introduced was Draco Malfoy. He came out onto the pitch waving his broom over his head. A gasp of surprise went through the stands. Hermione worked the zoom on her omnioculars. "He's got a Firebolt! When did Malfoy get a Firebolt?" 

"Is that a bad thing?" asked Willow. 

"The Firebolt is the fastest broom there is," said Dawn. "The only other one in the school is Harry's." 

"So this could be a bad thing," said Willow. 

"I'm not worried," said Dawn. "Ginny's broom is almost as good, And she's a lot better flier than he is." 

Madam Hootch blew her whistle, threw the Quaffle into the air, and the game was on. It quickly became apparent that this would be a match of skill versus brute force. The Slytherin players seemed to be more intent on knocking the Gryffindors off their brooms than they were on actually scoring. Fortunately for Gryffindor, their Chasers were a lot more maneuverable than their opponents', but there was only so much dodging of Slytherin's Chasers that they could do. Half an hour into the game the score was 50 to 20 in Gryffindor's favour, but the physical beating they were getting was taking a toll on the Gryffindor team. The only unscathed Gryffindor was Ginny…and it wasn't from a lack of trying by the Slytherins. 

At first Ginny had deftly dodged all attempts by the Slytherin team to ram, elbow, kick, or otherwise maim her. That ended after she saw Harry take a particularly hard hit from Crabbe, who, with Goyle, was a Slytherin Beater. 

The next time Crabbe tried to hit Ginny, instead of dodging the elbow he'd directed at her face she deflected it so forcefully that he was sent spinning out of control. He barely recovered before smashing into the ground, and was left with a very sore arm. To add insult to injury, Madam Hootch called a penalty on him for his attack on Ginny, and Harry scored another 10 points when he took the penalty shot. 

Malfoy had spent the game shadowing Ginny around the pitch. She knew what he was doing. He was hoping that his faster broom would allow him to dart ahead of her if she spotted the Snitch before he did. For the most part Ginny let him follow her. Every once in a while she'd put on a brief burst of speed to try to get away from him, but he was sticking to her like glue. She was starting to get annoyed with him. 

Ginny noticed that Montague, one of the Slytherin Chasers, and the team Captain, had managed to get his hands on the Quaffle, and had a break away toward the Gryffindor goal hoops. She decided it was time to kill two birds with one stone. She started into what looked like another attempt to shake Malfoy from her tail. 

Ginny accelerated forward, as fast as her broom would carry her. She started to dodge and weave, left, right, up and down, as if trying to escape from Malfoy, but that was really the last thing she wanted right now. She wanted him right behind her, with all of his attention focused on staying there. Her brief glances back at him confirmed that she was succeeding. 

Ginny suddenly plummeted toward the ground, and Malfoy followed, just the way she knew he would. He didn't see Montague until after Ginny had cut barely five feet in front of him, and it was too late. Malfoy smashed into Montague at full speed. 

They both came off their brooms, and fell to the ground. Madam Hootch blew her whistle, halting play while Madam Pomfrey and Professor Snape ran out onto the pitch to check on the two boys lying motionless on it. 

A quick examination showed that both Montague and Malfoy had been knocked cold, and had a couple of broken bones. Nothing Madam Pomfrey wouldn't be able to fix in time to get them back to classes on Monday, but they were out of the game for today. She waved her wand to summon a couple of stretchers to take them away to the hospital wing. 

Play resumed with a couple of Slytherin's reserve players filling in for Malfoy and Montague. The new Seeker didn't try shadowing Ginny the way Malfoy had, and the rest of the team seemed to have learned its lesson from what had happened to Crabbe. None of them were coming within ten feet of her now, though Crabbe and Goyle still shot a Bludger her way from time to time. 

The loss of Montague had also taken a lot of the aggression out of the team. The Slytherin Chasers were still playing a very physical game, but they weren't going out of their way to hit the Gryffindor players for the sake of hitting them. 

The score rose to 80 to 3o for Gryffindor, and it started to rain. It wasn't a heavy rain but it was cold. Umbrellas and umbrella charms popped up in the stands to keep the spectators dry, but there was no protection for the players. Ginny was soon soaking wet, and getting numb from the cold. 

A glimmer of gold flashed in the corner of her eye. Ginny looked toward it, but it was gone as quickly as it had appeared. She started to wonder if she was starting to see things. She had hardly slept at all last night. It flashed again, and this time when she looked she saw it. The Golden Snitch was hovering near the Slytherin goal posts. Ginny was near center field at the time. She accelerated down the field toward the Snitch. The rain drops started to sting as they hit her face. She squinted her eyes, trying to keep the water out of them. 

A quick glance showed that the Slytherin Seeker didn't have a chance of reaching the Snitch ahead of her, but Ginny kept pressing, not letting up at all. She bore down on the Snitch. 

Slytherin's Keeper saw her coming, and tried to move to block her, even though that would be a foul if he succeeded. Ginny dodged him easily, and snatched the Snitch out of the air. Madam Hootch blew a long blast on her whistle, signalling the end of the game. The final score was 250 to 40. 

Ginny forgot about how cold she was for a few minutes while she was hugged and kissed by all of her teammates. They all went back to the locker rooms together to get changed out of their wet robes. 

Nearly everyone had gone when they got out of the locker rooms. Hardly anyone had wanted to hang around in the rain. Everyone agreed that they would hold the celebration inside. The only people waiting for them when they got out were the reserve team members, and most of their close friends. Ginny got a hug and a toe curling kiss from Dean. Dean wasn't worried about Ron's reaction to that, since Ron was too busy being kissed by Hermione to notice what his sister was doing. 


	40. Magic and Quantum Mechanics

There was a celebration back in the Gryffindor common room. Everyone wanted to congratulate the team on their victory over Slytherin, especially Ginny, not only for catching the Snitch, but for the way she'd taken Malfoy and Montague out of the game. 

Harry broke up the festivities before they went too far, reminding everyone that the team had spent an hour in the nearly freezing rain, and they were all in need of a nice hot bath to get themselves warmed up again. Ginny was still soaking when Dawn came to get her at a quarter to five. 

* * *

"So, how does this work?" asked Ron. He was standing behind Willow, looking over her shoulder at her computer. 

"Buffy can read everything I type on my keyboard here," said Willow. "And we'll be able to read everything she types on her keyboard." She looked at the time displayed at the top of her screen. "Almost five, she should be joining us any time now." 

A new message appeared on the screen: 
    
    
    **Buffy has logged in.**
    

Willow started to type: 
    
    
    **Willow:** Hey Buffy!
    

A new message appeared a few seconds later. 
    
    
    **Buffy:** Hey Will! Everyone there?
    **Willow:** Yep! Dawn, Kennedy, Ginny, Harry, Ron, Hermione
    and Lupin.
    **Buffy:** Giles is here. So tell me about this dream again.
    

Willow had been expecting that, and she had asked for Ginny, Kennedy and Harry to provide her with written accounts of their dreams. She already had them typed up, and sent each one to Buffy. 
    
    
    **Buffy:** Ginny's and Kennedy's accounts match up with half a
    dozen others I've received now, from girls across
    Europe, Africa and Asia.It seems every Slayer who was
    asleep at the time got it.
    **Willow:** What about Harry's?
    **Buffy:** He's the only one giving it from Voldemort's POV,
    and is the only one who saw the tattoo. Descriptions of
    the man's clothes from the others all sound like the
    getups the KoB wore thogh.
    **Willow:** What do we do now?
    **Buffy:** I still think I should come there.
    **Willow:** Dawn says "I don't need a babysitter!"
    

Nothing new appeared on the screen for several seconds. 
    
    
    **Buffy:** I know. But the Key might.
    **Willow:** I think we can trust Dumbledore to take care of
    it.
    **Buffy:** Voldemort has gotten agents into Hogwarts in the
    past.
    **Willow:** Harry says "And they've had to go to extraordinary
    lengths to get anything out of Hogwarts."
    **Willow:** I'm working on a way to signal you, and get you
    here quickly if anything does happen. If it works you'll
    be able to be on the scene just as quickly as you would
    if you were actually living in the castle.
    **Buffy:** Even during your darkest mojo period you weren't up
    to teleportation.
    **Willow:** No, but Hermione says we can get Dumbledore to
    make you something called a Portkey that will teleport
    you here.
    **Buffy:** He can do that?
    **Willow:** So I'm told.
    **Buffy:** Okay. Giles says the other thing we should be
    looking at is the KoB. Find out more about them, what
    they know.
    **Willow:** Dawn wants to check out the library here. See if
    it has anything about the Knights, or the Key.
    **Buffy:** Good idea. Let's put the Watchers on it too. Time
    for them to start earning their pay.
    

They spent the next half hour discussing what they were going to do, until it was time for them to go to dinner. 

* * *

Buffy also wanted to have a more direct way of talking with Dawn after Willow left Hogwarts, so with a little guidance from Willow, Dawn and Hermione stepped up work on their project to get Dawn's computer working. They were sitting at a table in the library, with Dawn reading _Principles of Quantum Mechanics_ while Hermione read _Magic vs. Quantum Mechanics_. 

"Listen to this," said Hermione. She started to read from the book: 
    
    
    The Muggle theory of Quantum Mechanics can be more
    accurately described as 'incomplete' rather than
    'incorrect.' Just as Newtonian mechanics is adequate for
    describing the interactions of bodies of intermediate
    mass, moving at speeds much less than the speed of
    light, Quantum Mechanics is adequate for describing the
    interactions of particles of very low mass, over very
    short distances. Just as Newtonian mechanics breaks down
    when dealing with objects of very large or small mass,
    or very high velocities, Quantum Mechanics breaks down
    when dealing with the influence of Magic. Indeed it may
    be said that all Magic relies on the overturning of
    Quantum Mechanics.
    

Dawn put down her book. "Okay…and since the electronics in computers these days all rely on quantum level effects all happening the way QM says they will, with all the magic around here, nothing works right. But how does that help us? It just tells us that magic makes the computer stop working…and we knew that already." 

"It tells us _why_ magic makes the computer stops working," said Hermione. "And there's more. It isn't just computers that rely on quantum level events." She pushed the book across to Dawn, and pointed to another paragraph. "See here: the chemistry of life relies on it too, but living creatures have a magic in them that overrides the effects of magic on QM, and that's why we can live in a magical environment. There's a theory that says that Muggles are Muggles because they've got _too much_ of that particular sort of magic." 

"So…to get the computer to work we have to reproduce the magic that living organisms have that protects them from the effects of magic." Dawn thought a bit. "But if life forms are protected from magic, how can magic work on them?" 

"The protection isn't perfect," said Hermione. "Actually directing a spell at a living thing concentrates the magic enough to override the protection. The protection only keeps the spill over effects from making things go wonky." 

"Wonky?" asked Dawn. 

"I've been hanging out with you too much," said Hermione. 

* * *

Ginny's training sessions with Kennedy were continuing. Kennedy started to introduce her to the basics of fighting with weapons, starting out with the quarterstaff. 

After working with the staffs for a couple of days, Kennedy produced a couple of replicas of the Scythe. They were weighted exactly like the real thing, but the 'blades' on them were blunt rubber, as were the 'stakes' at the ends. 

Ginny took one of them in her hands, and frowned. "It feels different…dead." She tried to give it a spin, like she had with the real Scythe, the one time she'd held it. She nearly lost control of it, and had to catch it before it went sailing out of her hands. 

"They are dead," said Kennedy. "They don't have the Scythe's magic to help you control them. Practicing with these develops _your_ abilities without the magical augmentation. It makes you twice as good when you have the real thing in your hands. Now, let's get started. En garde!" 

* * *

Dawn and Hermione were ready three days later. They had rehearsed the spell a dozen times, using some cheap digital watches that Dawn had gotten for the purpose. Several Gryffindor students were wearing them now. They were quite amused by the Muggle timepieces. Professor McGonagall had been less amused when five watches had all beeped on the hour during her last Transfiguration class, and had transformed the offending timepieces into beetles. The students who had lost their new toys were mostly just glad that it hadn't happened in Potions. It was anyone's guess what Professor Snape would have done if his class had been interrupted by the electronic beeping. The students with surviving watches quickly got Dawn to show them how to turn the beepers off. 

Dawn stood beside Hermione, looking at the computer on her desk. "So are we ready?" 

"I think we're ready," said Hermione. 

"Okay," said Dawn. "Here goes…" She waved her wand over her computer, saying the words for the spell, and touched it to the Apple logo on the top of the lid. A faint blue glow spread out from the logo, and then slowly faded, seeming to sink into the computer. "So far so good." She looked at Willow, who was sitting on Dawn's bed watching them. "Did it work?" 

"Felt right," said Willow. "One way to be sure." 

"Try it out," said Hermione. 

Dawn lifted the lid of her computer, and pressed the power button. Nothing happened. "What's wrong?" she asked. 

"Hmm?" Willow closed her eyes for a moment. "It still feels right…" She suddenly snorted a brief laugh. "Oh, of course!" She got up off the bed and stepped toward the computer. "I think I can take care of this one time for you." She rested her hand on the keyboard for a moment. "Okay, try it now." 

Dawn pressed the button, and was rewarded by the startup chime. "Okay, what did you do…and what happened to you not actually doing any of the work, and just pointing us in the right direction?" 

"I charged the battery," said Willow. "One time deal. You're going to have to figure out how to recharge it on your own. It's not hard. I figured that one out a couple of years ago." 

Dawn logged on to her computer, and quickly configured the network settings to work with the dongle Willow had given her. She opened Mail, and checked for messages. She found she had a two month backlog from several mailing lists she had subscribed to, and a little bit of spam that had gotten past the filters on the mail server that Willow ran for them all. There were a few old personal emails from acquaintances who hadn't gotten (or had forgotten) the message that she would be offline for the year. "This is great! I'm back in touch with the world!" 


	41. Home for the Holidays

Dawn got the rest of her computer working over the next week. She still hadn't figured out how to recharge her battery with magic, but she and Hermione did get the portable generator they'd obtained running, using magic to spin it instead of the noisy—and smelly—gasoline engine, so she could plug her computer into it and charge the battery that way. That also let Dawn get her printer working, so now her professors were getting printed essays from her. There were a couple of raised eyebrows the first time that happened, but for the most part they accepted them…largely because it was generally agreed in the staff room that Dawn had the worst handwriting of any student above the first year, and they had all pretty much given up on trying to get her to spell colour with a 'u.' 

Dawn had also set up accounts on her computer for Hermione and Ginny. Hermione had a little experience with computers—her parents had one, and she had used it during her visits home—but Ginny was a complete neophyte, with no computer experience at all. Neither of them could type, so they kept writing their essays on parchment with quill pens. Hermione did become quite adept at using the computer to search the internet for material that was useful in their Muggle Studies classes. 

Dawn set up email accounts for both of them, and Ginny got added to a mailing list that had been set up to let all the Slayers from around the world exchange messages with each other, and also to the Slayer Chat Network. 

Willow and Kennedy stayed at Hogwarts for another couple of weeks. Ginny spent at least an hour working out with Kennedy every day, and improved rapidly. She was able to hold her own with the older Slayer when it came time for them to leave. Now their workout sessions took place to music supplied by Dawn's iPod, amplified by a _sonorus_ spell. 

Willow had also charmed Dawn's cell phone before she left. It was now possible for her to make and receive calls with it. A similarly charmed phone had been dispatched to Buffy, along with a Portkey that could bring her to Hogwarts. The spell enabled the phone even if it was outside an area covered by regular cellular service. Hedwig was delivering them, since the package was too heavy for Yanka to carry so far. 

* * *

Dawn woke up one Saturday morning, a month after Willow and Kennedy had left, to see the grounds covered in white. It was the first snow she had seen since the Christmas when she was twelve. Everyone ran outside after breakfast, and a huge snowball fight ensued between the various houses. Dawn found that she was a favourite target of many of the Slytherins, and mixed in with the snowballs that came her way were several that turned out to have solid ice cores. Too many snowballs were flying in all directions to pin down who the ice ones were coming from…even though Dawn had a pretty good idea, based on the smirk on Malfoy's face. 

Dawn wasn't the only one getting hit by iceballs. Several other Gryffindors were getting them thrown their way as well. Malfoy suddenly found himself buried under a barrage of snowballs thrown at him. 

* * *

Harry wanted to go visit Hagrid after lunch. Ron and Hermione, and Ginny and Dean came along with them. They found him behind his hut, throwing bails of hay into the paddock. 

"What are you doing?" asked Harry. 

"Puttin' out fodder for tha Trivets," said Hagrid. "In case they decide to stay fer tha winter." 

"Where do they go, if they don't stay?" asked Hermione. 

"This here herd usually winters in the Tasmanian Trivet Reserve," said Hagrid. "But they don' always go south fer tha winter." 

"Why would they stay here, if they could go some place warm?" asked Dawn. 

"Yer'd have to ask the Trivets tha'," said Hagrid. "They don' explain themselves ta me." 

"Maybe they like playing in the snow," said Ron. He scooped up a handful, packed it into a ball and threw it at his sister. Ginny saw it coming and ducked, so the snowball sailed over her, and hit Hermione instead. 

"Oh, you're in for it now Ronald Weasley!" Hermione threw a snowball back at him. Dawn and Ginny joined in, pelting Ron with more snowballs, until Harry and Dean came to his defense. It became a snowball fight between the boys and the girls. It was hardly a fair fight: Ginny could throw with deadly accuracy. Hagrid wisely backed away, letting the kids go at it. 

Harry and Ron realized they had no hope of winning the snowball fight. They exchanged a look, and both of them knew what the other was thinking. They roared and charged at the girls. Ron tackled Hermione, and Harry tried to tackle Dawn. He wound up planted face first in the snow with Dawn sitting astride his back, and his arm twisted up behind his back. Ron and Hermione were rolling together in the snow with neither one of them managing to pin the other. Dean had been a little slower in switching his mode of combat. He charged at Ginny, and suffered a fate similar to the one Harry had suffered at Dawn's hand. 

"Do you give up?" asked Dawn. 

"Yes!" said Harry. "I surrender!" 

"Okay," Dawn let go of Harry and got to her feet. She turned to look at Ron and Hermione, who were still rolling in the snow. She didn't see Harry grab a handful of snow as he got to his feet. She felt him pull at the collar of her cloak, and then she shrieked as she felt the ice cold snow against her spine. 

Dawn spun around and saw that Harry was already running. "_Oh, you are so dead Mister!_" she yelled as she chased after him. 

Harry's longer legs kept him ahead of Dawn for the first couple of hundred yards, but he wasn't in the habit of running a couple of miles every other day the way she did. He felt his strength flagging, and Dawn started to gain on him. 

Dawn tackled Harry from behind and they fell into a snowbank. They rolled together through the snow. This time Dawn wasn't trying to pin Harry. She pulled open his cloak, and shoved a double handful of snow up under his sweater. He howled as the snow came in contact with his skin. 

Harry saw that Dawn was reaching for more snow, so he did the only thing he could think of to defend himself. He reached a hand up behind her neck, and pulled her face toward his for a kiss. She tried to pull away for a moment, but she stopped, and suddenly she was kissing him back. The trickle of cold from the snow still melting against his skin vanished from his mind as he held her. 

They were snapped out of the kiss by more snow hitting their heads. Dawn rolled off Harry and they both sat up, and looked at their friends gathering more snow. 

"Oh, damn!" said Ron. "I hoped it would take more than one shot to get their attention." His cloak was covered with snow, and he had more snow in his hair. Hermione was just as covered with snow as he was. 

"So why did you need our attention so badly?" asked Harry. 

"We thought it might be a good idea to break you apart before you froze together," said Ginny. She alone seemed to be fairly snow free. 

Ron and Hermione pulled Harry and Dawn to their feet. "Come on mate," said Ron. "Let's go find someplace warm to snog the girls." Hermione pushed him into the snow bank he'd just pulled Harry out of. 

* * *

Dawn sat meditating with Harry in a quiet corner of the Gryffindor common room. They weren't doing it as often now as they had over the summer (they had better things to do with each other when they had a little quiet time alone together) but they were still getting in a couple of sessions a week. She felt her cell phone vibrate against the small of her back. 

Dawn looked around to make sure that no one was paying attention. That she had a working phone was being kept a secret…largely because she didn't want all the kids with Muggle relatives asking to borrow it to make calls home. 

The coast was clear so Dawn reached around and pulled her phone out of her belt. She checked the display and saw it was Buffy calling. She pressed the 'Talk' button. "Hi Buffy." 

"Hi Dawn, how are you doing?" 

"Doing good. It snowed here last night, so we had a big snowball fight this morning." 

"Sorry I missed it," said Buffy. "I haven't seen snow since that Christmas in Sunnydale." 

"Me neither," said Dawn. "It's colder than I remembered it being…especially when someone shoves a handful of it down your back." 

"I bet," said Buffy. "Anyway, I called to let you know that everything's set for Christmas. Giles and I are back in England, and Xander and the gang are coming over from Cleveland. They're arriving Wednesday." 

"That's great!" said Dawn. "And you're going to pick me up at the train station next Saturday, right?" 

"Four o'clock," said Buffy. "Can't wait to see you again." 

"Me too," said Dawn. "Any progress on the Knights, or the other thing?" They tended to be circumspect when talking about the Key over the phone. You never really knew if someone else might be listening in. 

"Giles' friend Robson thinks he might have a lead," said Buffy. "Nothing concrete. How about you guys? Find anything in the library there?" 

"Not much that we didn't already know," said Dawn. "Professor Lupin wrote us a note to get access to the restricted section. We found a couple of books that talk about it, but they're pretty much all ancient history. Very little about what it can do. Mostly just stuff we already knew about. There is one new bit of information we found though: the Knights and the Monks were once the same organization. They had a falling out sometime around the start of the eleventh century about just what they should do with it. Something happened that made most of them decide that it needed to be destroyed, but another group wanted to preserve and study it more. The group that wanted to keep it managed to steal it before the others could destroy it, and they became the Monks, and the Knights spent the next thousand years looking for it." 

"Hmm," said Buffy. "That's interesting. I'll tell Giles. Maybe that will shake something loose." 

They kept talking for a few minutes, exchanging news before they hung up. Dawn saw that Harry was looking at her. "So, you're going to see all your old friends at Christmas?" 

"A lot of them anyway," said Dawn. "It'll be nice. You're going to the Weasley's?" 

"That's the plan," said Harry. "Of course we've had that plan before, and it didn't work out." 

* * *

The Hogwarts Express pulled to a stop at Platform nine and three quarters at precisely four o'clock on the next Saturday afternoon. Dawn joined all the other students getting off the train and scanned the platform for anyone she knew. 

"_Xander!_" Dawn ran across the platform and nearly jumped into his arms, hugging him tightly. "God, it's good to see you!" 

Xander held her tightly. "You too, Dawnmiester." 

Dawn let go of Xander and stepped back a bit. She looked around and finally noticed her sister smiling at her. "Hi Buffy." She got a much less enthusiastic hug. 

"Hey Dawn. So you missed Xander more than me?" 

"I just saw you a couple of months ago, but it been like _forever_ since I've seen Xander." She looked around a bit more and saw that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were there, along with the Grangers. They were busy hugging their own returning children. Mrs. Weasley had a hug for Harry too. 

Xander got introduced to all of Dawn's friends, and they joined the queue of people exiting the platform. 

"So, where's Giles?" asked Dawn. 

"He stayed back at the house," said Buffy. "He was afraid the others would demolish it in his absence." 

"Wait a minute," said Dawn. "That means that _you_ must have driven!" 

"It wasn't that bad, really," said Xander. "I only had to remind her which side of the road she was supposed to be on six or seven times." 

"Xander!" Buffy whacked his shoulder. "It was only once." 

"And of course I only saw half the near misses," said Xander. "During the time I had my eye open anyway." 

Harry stood behind Dawn and Xander, listening to them joke together, and watching the way she had her arm wrapped around his waist, and tried not to feel jealous. So what if the guy was older, and taller, and had a wicked cool looking eye patch? Dawn had talked about Xander a lot over the past months, and Harry knew that she thought of him as a big brother. Him feeling jealous of Xander would be as silly as Dawn feeling jealous of his relationship with Hermione. He knew they were just friends, really there was nothing for him to be jealous about. "And if you keep telling yourself that, maybe you'll start to believe it," he muttered to himself. 

Dawn looked back toward him. "You say something?" 

Harry hadn't realized he'd spoken aloud. "What? No, not really." 

Dawn disengaged from Xander, and stepped back to wrap her arm around Harry. It made him feel better. Not only because he liked being this close to Dawn, but the look Xander was giving him was definitely more of a 'big brother glaring at sister's boyfriend' look than a 'jealous boyfriend' look. You'd think that only having one eye to glare with would lessen the impact of it, but it didn't. It made it more intense, more concentrated. 

"Oh, don't worry about Xander," said Dawn. "He's a big teddy bear." 

"I don't know," said Harry. "Some of your stories make him sound like a very dangerous teddy bear." 

"Only to evil things, and you're not one of those," said Buffy. 

Harry noticed that Buffy's eyes kept moving around. "Looking for something?" he asked. 

"Your bodyguards, and anyone they'd be protecting you from," said Buffy. "I kinda expected to see Moody and Tonks." 

"Tonks could be anyone here," said Harry. "She's a Metamorphmagus. She can look like anyone she wants to." 

"What about Moody?" 

"He may be around," said Harry. "Strange as it seems, he _is_ capable of being very inconspicuous. He does have an invisibility cloak after all. Or he may not. There'll be lots of official protection around here today too. Mad-Eye Moody is officially retired as an Auror." 

They made their way out through King's Cross station, until they got to the place where they had to go their separate ways to reach their cars. Harry paused to give Dawn a goodbye kiss, and couldn't help noticing that Xander glared at him much the same way as Ron glared at Dean when he saw him give Ginny a goodbye kiss. "So, I guess I'll see you again in a couple of weeks when we go back to school." 

"Don't worry," said Buffy. "You'll be seeing her sooner than that." 

Dawn turned to look at her sister. "What do you mean?" 

"I mean that I was talking with Mrs. Weasley while we were waiting for your train, and she invited us to come visit them at the Burrow next weekend. Apparently it's not too far from Giles' place." 


	42. Christmas

Buffy got Dawn and Xander to Giles' without driving on the wrong side of the road even once. It was after six o'clock when she pulled into the driveway of what had once been a small manor house for an estate south east of Bath, near Westbury. Of course the 'small' manor house was still quite a bit larger than the house they used to have in Sunnydale. It was owned by the Council of Watchers, and now served as Giles' primary residence. He had given up his flat in Bath and moved here, since he usually had at least three house guests staying with him, and sometimes as many as a dozen, and it had the room to accommodate them. 

Buffy honked the car horn as she pulled to a stop in front of the house. People started to boil from it as they got out. Dawn started greeting friends she hadn't seen for months. Giles and Andrew got hugs. 

Dawn hugged Faith next, and then she turned to Robin Wood. They both looked at each other a little awkwardly. Dawn couldn't get over thinking of him as her high school Principal. Not someone you hugged. After a couple of false starts he just smiled and stuck out his hand for her to shake. 

Rona and Vi got hugs after Dawn had finished with Robin. Willow and Kennedy were the last ones out of the house, and they got hugs too before Xander picked up her bag, Dawn grabbed Yanka's cage, and they all went back inside. 

Xander took Dawn's bag up to the room she had stayed in when she had been there earlier that summer. She saw that some of the stuff that she had left behind was still there; it didn't look like anyone else had used it since she'd gone. 

Dawn returned downstairs after unpacking her bag. She found everyone in the Great Hall, unpacking boxes of newly bought Christmas decorations. Xander and Giles were just carrying in a large pine tree when she arrived. The sound of Christmas music filled the room, though Dawn couldn't see where it was coming from. It didn't annoy Dawn the way it usually did…maybe because she hadn't been hearing it in shopping malls ever since Halloween. 

Buffy looked up from the string of lights she was unravelling. "Hey Dawn! Just in time! We put off getting the tree set up and decorated until you could get here to help us." 

Dawn smiled, but she could feel her stomach rumbling. "That's great, but when are we going to eat?" 

"Don't worry, we've ordered pizzas," said Buffy. "We even ordered a pineapple and anchovy one for you. Now come here and help me with these." 

The pizzas arrived while they were putting the lights on the tree. Everyone took a break to get their first slices before going back to the decorating. After the lights were done they started hanging ornaments on the tree branches. 

Dawn looked at a silver ball that she was about to add to the tree. She couldn't help feeling that something was missing. 

"You feel it too, don't you?" asked Buffy. 

"What?" 

"You miss all the old decorations we had at home," said Buffy. "Twenty-five years worth of family tradition, fallen into a giant hole in the ground." 

Dawn smiled. "Yeah. I know it's stupid…but looking at this…" She held up the ornament. "…I can't help but remember that we had one just like it…we had a whole set of them before you sat on the box when you were sixteen." 

"That was the same year that you dropped and broke the last of the glass balls we got from Grandma." 

"That was so not my fault!" said Dawn. "Technically, I wasn't even really there, it must have been someone else who broke it, and you were tickling me!" 

"You mean like this?" Buffy grabbed Dawn and started to tickle her stomach. 

"Buffy!" Dawn squealed, and she tried to pull away, but Buffy had too tight a grip on her. She dropped the ornament as she struggled to get free. The plastic ball bounced away across the floor. 

"Cut it out you two, before you break something!" said Giles. 

Buffy kept hold of her sister, and kept tickling her. "But Giles, it's a Summers tradition. It isn't really Christmas unless we break something!" 

Dawn kept trying to break free from Buffy's hold on her. "Xander! Help!" 

Xander hesitated a moment, thinking about the hazards of getting involved in a fight with Buffy, even if it was just fooling around, but he could never resist a call for help from one of the Summers girls. "Watch my back," he told Willow. "I'm going in." 

Willow watched Xander's backside, and smiled—remembering when she used to have such an enormous crush on him—as he crossed the room to where Buffy and Dawn were struggling together. She saw that Xander wasn't being so foolish as to try to free Dawn from Buffy directly. When he reached the struggling girls he reached out and started to tickle Buffy. 

"Yeeah!" Buffy let go of Dawn to turn to handle this new attack. "Oh, you are so dead!" Her fingers went for Xander's ribs, but Dawn wasn't going to abandon her rescuer. Buffy found herself under attack from the rear by her sister. 

Buffy was caught between Xander and Dawn. She couldn't protect herself from one of them without opening herself up to attack from the other, unless she wanted to resort to Slayer moves. "Willow! Help!" 

"Oh no!" said Willow. "I'm already watching Xander's back!" 

"Faith!" 

"I got ya B!" Faith grabbed Xander around the waist and pulled him away from Buffy, freeing her to go after Dawn again. 

"Oh no you don't!" Willow jumped onto Faith's back. "Keep your paws off Xander!" 

Buffy grabbed Dawn around the waist and picked her up. She spun her around, and Dawn's foot hit a lamp on a table. It crashed to the floor, and shattered into a zillion pieces. Everyone stopped. 

"Oops," said Buffy. 

"Well, now it's official," said Dawn. "It's Christmas." 

"That was my grandmother's," said Giles. 

"Oh, hey, I can take care of this!" Dawn pulled out her wand. 

"Uh, are you sure that's a good idea?" asked Buffy. 

"No problem!" Dawn pointed her wand at the pieces of lamp scattered across the floor. "Reparo!" The pieces all gathered together, and the lamp flew back up onto the table, fully intact again, and Dawn smiled smugly. "Learned that one last week in Charms." 

"I thought you weren't supposed to do magic away from the school," said Buffy. 

"That rule only applies to underage witches," said Dawn. 

"Any you're not underage?" 

"Not to wizards," said Dawn. "They consider seventeen to be 'of age.' I'm going to be taking apparating lessons next term too." 

"Apparating?" asked Faith. 

"Teleporting," said Dawn. "For witches, getting your apparating license is kinda like getting your driver's license. You have to be seventeen to take the test." 

Andrew appeared, wearing an apron and oven mitts. "Dessert's ready!" 

* * *

The next few days were among the happiest Dawn could remember for many years. The previous two Christmases hadn't been particularly joyful. The first had been marred by Buffy's depression following her resurrection, and the second by the news that the First was on the rise, and trying to destroy the Slayer line. 

Buffy went a little nuts over getting Christmas dinner ready. It reminded Dawn of the stories she'd heard about the Thanksgiving dinner Buffy had held for her friends the year she had gone with her mother to visit her Aunt Darlene, only without a vengeful indian spirit interrupting it. 

Everyone was sitting around the table after dinner was finished, letting their meal settle before they started into cleaning up the dishes. They all had a glass with an after dinner liqueur. Even Dawn had a glass of Crème de Menthe. 

Giles rose from his seat at the head of the table, with his glass in his hand. "I would like to propose a toast." Everyone could see the grave expression on his face. "It is wonderful that we could gather so many of our friends here for this occasion, but I think we should take a moment to remember our friends and loved ones who couldn't be here tonight." 

"Mom," said Buffy softly from her seat at the other end of the table. 

Dawn looked at her sister. "Spike." 

"Anya," said Xander. 

"Tara," said Willow. 

"Jonathan," said Andrew. 

"Chloe," said Kennedy. 

"Jenny," said Giles. 

"Amanda." "Allan." "Annabelle." "Jesse." "Molly." People kept saying the names of people who had fallen over the years. Dawn felt a lump growing in her throat with each new name. It didn't seem right to her that she should know so many people who had died before their time. 

Eventually the list of names came to an end. Giles was still standing. He raised his glass. "To departed friends." He drained it in one swallow. 

Everyone raised their glasses. "Departed friends." They all placed their glasses to their lips. 

Andrew tried to emulate Giles' draining of his glass, and started to cough. That broke the spell of melancholy that had settled over the group, and a couple of them started to laugh. Dawn patted him on the back. "You okay there Andrew?" 

"Fine!" squeaked Andrew. "I'm fine. It just went down the wrong way." 

"I'm sure," said Buffy. She got up from her seat. "Why don't those of us who cooked retire to some more comfortable seats, while the rest of you take care of the cleanup?" 


	43. The Burrow

Giles drove one of the vans they'd rented for the trip—they didn't own a vehicle large enough to accommodate all of them—down the narrow road leading south from Ottery St. Catchpole. Dawn consulted the map that Harry had owled to her, and pointed to a narrow opening in the hedge on their right. "I think that's the place." The opening would be missed by anyone who wasn't looking for it. 

Giles turned off the road onto a narrow track that was overgrown with weeds. The second van, being driven by Robin Wood, followed them. The track didn't look like anyone had driven over it for years. It wound into an old orchard. "Are you sure this is the place?" 

Someone flew out of the trees on their left, and vanished into the trees on their right. Giles stomped on the brakes, and the van lurched to a stop. 

"I'm sure," said Dawn. Two more people on broomsticks hurtled across the track, chasing after the first one. They all appeared and disappeared too quickly for Dawn to get a good look, but she thought that the second two were Fred and George. She tried to peer into the trees to get another look at them. She saw some movement. 

Harry came flying out of the trees, moving much more slowly this time. He flew right up beside Dawn's open window. "Hey! You made it! We weren't expecting you for another half hour." 

"We made good time," said Dawn. She saw Fred and George follow Harry out of the trees. "Hi guys!" 

"Come on," said Harry. "The Burrow is just a bit farther up the track." He flew slowly ahead of them. Giles followed, with Fred and George falling in behind the second van. Dawn felt like they made a very strange formation, with the three broomsticks escorting them. A couple more brooms joined them a little farther along, being ridden by Ron and Ginny. Dawn started to regret that she'd left hers in her room back at Hogwarts. She hadn't expected to get a chance to ride it over the Christmas break. 

Half the people in the van had seen people riding on brooms before, but the others gawked at their escort in open mouthed wonder. "You know," said Xander. "I was half convinced up until now that you had all conspired together in a colossal joke with the flying broom thing." 

"Right with ya, Xan," said Rona. "This is freaky." 

They broke out of the trees, and saw a most peculiar house. It reminded Dawn in a strange way of some old farm houses she'd seen, which had started out as cabins and had extra rooms tacked on more or less at random over a hundred years or so, but instead of a horizontal sprawl, this house had grown _up_ in a way that defied gravity. 

The track ended by an old shed. Giles stopped the van, and everyone got out. Their escort had all landed, and Dawn went to give Harry a hug and a kiss before introducing him and the Weasleys to her friends. 

Coolers full of beverages, and Tupperware containers with food were unpacked from the vans. Ron led everyone up toward the house. Ginny fell in amongst her sister Slayers, and started to get acquainted with Faith, Rona and Vi. Xander and Andrew flanked Fred and George. Dawn had told Xander about their joke shop, and he wanted to hear more about it. Dawn hadn't let go of Harry since getting out of the van. Robin, Willow and Giles brought up the rear. 

The noise of their arrival had alerted the people in the house. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley came out to greet them, followed by Bill, and another young man that Buffy correctly surmised must be another one of Ginny's brothers. Introductions were made all round again, and she learned that this one was Charlie. 

"Just how many brothers do you have?" Faith asked Ginny. 

"Six," said Ginny. 

"My condolences," said Vi. 

Kennedy had a quick look around, counting red-heads. "So there's still one we haven't met?" 

Ginny didn't look happy. "Yeah. Percy's not here." 

"Slimy git," muttered Ron. 

He muttered a little too loudly. "_Ronald Weasley!_" shouted his mother. "Don't talk about your brother that way!" 

Ron hung his head. "Sorry Mum," he said quietly. 

There was a moment of awkward silence, with the visitors feeling like they were intruding on some long standing family squabble. Mrs. Weasley didn't let it last more than a second. She turned away from Ron, and smiled brightly at everyone. "Why don't you all come inside?" 

Mrs. Weasley led them all into the living room of the house. It would have been cozy with all of the Weasleys in it, but with the addition of all the visitors, it was crowded, so people started moving out into the garden. It was a bright, sunny day, a little on the cool side—especially for the people from California—but there was shimmering golden dome over part of the garden that warmed everything inside it to a comfortable temperature. 

There was a large table set up under the dome on which food started to appear. The Weasleys got to sample various Muggle beverages that the Sunnydale crew had brought with them, such as Pepsi, and 7 Up, while the Sunnydale crew sampled the butterbeer, and pumpkin juice. 

They fragmented into several smaller groups after everyone had had lunch. Xander and Andrew found themselves talking with Charlie about his work on the Romanian Dragon Reservation. Kennedy and Willow took Fred and George aside for a bit of a private talk about new market possibilities for their Ton Tongue Toffees. Buffy showed Mr. Weasley how to work her cell phone. He took great delight in using it to call Dawn, and talk to her with it, even though she was only ten feet away. 

Ron showed Dawn the pictures he had received that morning from Hermione. She was on a skiing holiday with her parents in Switzerland. "I don't get it," he said. "It seems that you put those funny things on your feet, and then just slide down a hill. What's the fun in that?" 

"I've never tried it myself," said Dawn. "But I have friends who ski, and they say it's a lot of fun. I've watched races on TV a few times, and those guys are almost flying down the hills. It looked scarier than Harry on his broom." 

"Speaking of flying," said Faith from the other side of the table. "I bet flying on those brooms is a lotta fun." 

"You want to try it?" asked Ron. 

"Love to!" 

"Anyone else want to try flying?" called Ron loudly. 

Rona, Vi, Kennedy and Xander quickly volunteered. "What about you Andrew?" asked Dawn. 

"Oh no!" said Andrew. "Warren talked me into flying once, and I wound up with a concussion. I don't much like heights anyway." 

"You had brooms?" asked Harry. 

"No, we had rocket packs," said Andrew. 

Fred and George volunteered to loan their brooms to the people taking the lessons, and there were more old brooms that used to belong to Ron, Ginny, Bill and Charlie in the shed, so they had a broom for everyone who wanted to learn, plus one that Dawn could borrow. Nearly everyone made their way down to the paddock where the Weasleys would play Quidditch. Even the visitors who weren't participating wanted to watch. 

Harry led them through the same lessons he had given Dawn and Buffy that summer, and they were soon flying around the paddock. It didn't take long before the Slayers were ready for something more challenging, so Ron suggested that they resume the game that they had been playing in the orchard when the Sunnydale crew had arrived. It was a sort of combination of tag, and hide and seek among the trees. Xander didn't trust his depth perception to dodging trees, so he let the others go play without him. 

While the younger kids were playing among the trees, Mr. Weasley and his older sons were shown the vans. He had to be restrained from trying to take the engines apart to have a better look at how they worked, and to see how much Muggle automobiles had changed since he'd gotten his old Ford Anglia. 

Mr. Weasley was full of questions about just how the cars worked. Strangely it was Bill who was able to answer many of them. He had spent a fair amount of time living among Muggles since his graduation from Hogwarts, and had learned quite a bit about the things that puzzled many wizards, but were so common to Muggles that they never gave much thought to them. 

* * *

There were a couple of surprises waiting for Ginny when she returned to the garden after their game. The first was an iBook computer. Buffy told her that it was part of the standard equipment given to all Slayers. Ginny hadn't gotten hers earlier because of the problems getting computers to work in magical environments, but now that that problem was licked, Ginny was getting one. 

The second surprise was the Scythe. Ginny's eyes went wide when she saw it. "Oh! May I try it?" 

"That's why I brought it," said Buffy. "Give you a chance to work with it a bit." She took the Scythe and moved to a flat patch of lawn near the garden pond with Ginny following her. 

Everyone else followed them. They stood in a semi-circle around Buffy and Ginny while Buffy held the Scythe out for Ginny to take it from her. As soon as Ginny took it, Buffy stepped back to give her lots of room. 

Ginny went through a sequence of drills she had practiced with the replica Scythe. She started out moving slowly, concentrating on her control, and the smoothness of her motion, almost like she was doing Tai Chi. She slowly increased her tempo, moving faster and faster. Her parents, brothers, and Harry watched in open mouthed wonder as the Scythe became a blur of motion, slicing though the air. Ginny's motion was like a ballet, accompanied by the singing of the blade. 

Buffy put her fingers into her mouth and produced a sharp whistle after five minutes. Ginny stopped, looking flushed and exhilarated. She stood still, holding the Scythe, and breathing deeply. "I'm sorry. I got carried away a bit." 

Buffy stepped toward her. "Don't be sorry." She leaned closer and whispered in Ginny's ear. "It's almost as good as sex." Most of the people watching wondered why Ginny blushed, and the other Slayers laughed. 

Buffy held out her hand, and Ginny handed the Scythe back to her. Buffy took it, and removed a couple of items from her jacket pockets. One of them was a guard that she snapped over the blade, and the second was a cap that she put over the stake end of the Scythe. She handed it back to Ginny. 

Buffy took off her jacket. "Faith!" She tossed the jacket back at the same time Faith tossed a short wooden staff to Buffy. Buffy caught the staff without looking. It was about the same length as the Scythe. Buffy swung the staff through the air between her and Ginny. "You ready to go again?" 

Ginny held the Scythe and watched Buffy carefully. She nodded her head. 

Buffy attacked. Ginny parried and riposted, jabbing the stake end of the Scythe toward Buffy's heart. Buffy spun out of the way at the last instant and her staff swung at Ginny's head. Ginny ducked below it, and the blade of the Scythe sliced toward Buffy. 

If Ginny's initial workout with the Scythe had been a ballet solo, this was a pas de deux. Buffy and Ginny danced together. Ginny felt the power of the Scythe filling her, making her better than she had ever been before. She saw for the first time just how much Buffy had been holding back when they had sparred before, but this time she could feel that Buffy was hardly holding back at all. For the first time Ginny felt like she could hold her own with the older Slayer. 

To most of the watchers Ginny's dance with Buffy was a blur of motion too fast to follow. The other Slayers were the only ones who could actually track what was happening between the combatants. Harry was wishing that he had his omnioculars, so he could slow down the motion enough to be able to appreciate it. 

Mrs. Weasley had to be restrained from rushing forward to help Ginny the first time Buffy's staff hit her in the ribs. Ginny grunted, and staggered back. She waved her mother away. "I'm okay, Mum!" She attacked Buffy with a quick combination that forced her to back away, and ended with the blunted end of the Scythe hitting Buffy's chest, and knocking her off her feet. 

Buffy stood up, rubbing her chest. She smiled at their audience. "And that's why I never let my mom watch me sparring." 

The other Slayers took turns sparring with Ginny too, letting Ginny keep the Scythe the whole time. Ginny found that she could beat Kennedy for the first time in all the sparring matches that they'd had together. 

Once Ginny had fought a round with each of the other Slayers, Buffy had her surrender the Scythe, and replaced it with another staff. They started to spar again. This time, without the power of the Scythe, Ginny found that she was overmatched by Buffy. Some of the Scythe's power seemed to linger with her though, so she was still doing better than she ever had before. 

The sun was setting, and the afternoon was getting cooler when Buffy called a halt. Everyone returned to the warmth of the golden dome over the table. As the daylight faded the dome also provided them with illumination. 

* * *

Ginny sat with Buffy, Faith and Kennedy during dinner, talking with them, and hearing their stories about the vampires and demons they had faced in the past. She was so engrossed in her conversation with them that it took her a little while to notice that her own family was being unusually quiet. 

Ron noticed the change before Ginny did. He was sitting down at the opposite end of the table, across from Fred and George. They weren't telling jokes, and they hadn't tried to slip anything into his dinner even once. They kept glancing down the table toward Ginny. It was less noticeable in Bill and Charlie, but they seemed more subdued than usual too. "What's got you all wound up?" he asked them. 

"Nothing," said Fred. 

"Everything's fine," said George. 

"Then why hasn't anyone turned into a giant canary?" asked Ron. 

"You know everyone in the family knows what a Canary Cream looks like," said Fred. 

"I was kinda planning on giving one to Xander though," said George. 

"Not the point," said Ron. "You guys haven't pulled a single gag since the start of Ginny's little sparring session with Buffy." 

George looked back down the table at his sister. "You know, until I saw that…I don't think I really believed any of this Slayer stuff. It wasn't…real. Ginny was our little sister, who needed our protection. She isn't the same person any more." 

"She's still Ginny," said Ron. "She stopped being a little girl even before she became a Slayer. You didn't see her in the Ministry." 

"But she wasn't…" 

"What?" asked Ron. "Able to pick both of you up and throw you into the pond next time you set off a dung bomb under her bed?" 

"That isn't what I meant," said Fred. 

"But now that you mention it…it is something to keep in mind," said George. 

"Don't worry," said Ron. "I've been watching her train. She won't hurt you…not by accident anyway." 

"Oh, that makes me feel _so_ much better," said Fred. 

Ginny had become very quiet at the other end of the table. Sometimes being able to hear things most people didn't wasn't all it was cracked up to be. 

Buffy could see the look on Ginny's face, and knew the cause of it. "Don't worry about it," she said quietly. "Ron's right: you're still Ginny, and the rest of your family will come to realize it too. It just takes a little time. At least your family didn't find out about you because you staked a vampire right under their noses." 

Ginny smiled. "That's what happened to you?" 

"Yep," said Dawn. "Right in the front yard. Mom caught Buffy coming home late with this strange guy, and Buffy was making up a totally lame excuse—I was eleven at the time and even I knew it was lame—and Mom wasn't buying it at all, and then this vampire attacked out of nowhere, and Buffy and Spike beat it up, and then Buffy staked it, right there in front of Mom and me. It took Mom a few months to get over that shock, but she did." 

Ginny looked at Faith and Kennedy. "What about you guys?" 

"Don't have any family," said Faith. Ginny looked at her, and saw the pain in her eyes, and knew that there was something more Faith wasn't saying, but she didn't press it. She looked at Kennedy. 

"My parents have known I could become a Slayer since I was six," said Kennedy. "I haven't really talked to them much since I was called, other than to let them know I was okay. Family…isn't something the old Watcher's Council was big on." 

"That's one of the things they were very wrong about," said Buffy. "They thought that friends and family distracted Slayers from their duty, but when you come down to it, friends and family will keep you fighting longer and harder than some abstract duty. Knowing that what you are doing is protecting people you love is a better motivator than doing it to protect a bunch of strangers." 

Buffy looked back down the table at Fred and George. "Now what did they mean when they said they were going to turn Xander into a canary?" 

* * *

Xander sat pulling yellow feathers out of his hair, and glaring around at the laughing people. "Ha ha. Very funny." 

"I've never seen a canary with an eye patch before Xander," said Dawn. "You were like…a pirate canary." 

"Argh, ye scurvy knave!" said Xander. "Ye'd best be careful, or this here pirate'll be making ye walk tha plank! Argh!" 

Dawn's reply was interrupted by the ringing of Buffy's cell phone. She pulled it out, and frowned at the caller ID. "It's Robson." She pressed the 'talk' button, and lifted the phone to her ear. "Buffy Summers. … Hello Mr. Robson, what's up? … You did? That's great! … Okay, where and when? … Right, we'll be there, thanks a lot. Good work! … Alright, talk to you later. Bye!" 

"What's up?" asked Dawn. 

"Robson found the Knights of Byzantium," said Buffy. "They want to talk to me." 


	44. The Knights Who Say 'Key'

Buffy and Giles stood under umbrellas in the light rain falling in St. James Park. She looked around and saw Willow and Kennedy about fifty yards away, pretending to be tourists. There weren't many real tourists in the park today: the cold rain was no doubt encouraging them to take in many of London's indoor attractions. Buffy kept looking, wondering if there were _any_ real tourists there today. She was sure that some of the people she could see were with the Knights of Byzantium, there to keep an eye on this meeting the way Willow and Kennedy were. Others no doubt belonged to MI-5, or whoever was responsible for the security of Buckingham Palace, which was just across the road from them. Buffy thought that many of the 'tourists' looked too young and fit to be genuine. The presence of so much security was one of the reasons that this location was chosen for the meeting. Both sides could be pretty sure that the other wouldn't start something in a place under such heavy surveillance. 

Giles spotted the people they were there to meet first. "Buffy." He nodded toward two men, wearing trench coats and fedoras, walking along the path by the edge of the lake toward them. "I think our contacts are here." 

"Looks like," said Buffy. "You think they could look _more_ like they're here for a clandestine meeting?" 

The two men approached them. Buffy could see that their hats were partially concealing the tattoos on their foreheads. The man with the more elaborate tattoo nodded at Buffy. "Miss Summers." 

Buffy nodded back. "You have me at a disadvantage." 

"I am Captain General Nicholas. My companion is Brother Darius." 

"And this is Rupert Giles," said Buffy. 

Nicholas gave them a humourless smile. "I know." He looked around. "So, Miss Summers…why do you seek us?" 

"I want to know what you know about the Key." 

"I know that your sister is currently attending a rather…unusual…school in Scotland." 

"So you know." 

"We have known for some time." 

"And what do you plan to do about it?" 

Nicholas looked surprised. "Nothing." 

"Nothing?" asked Buffy. "Your predecessor, Gregor, wasn't nearly so…magnanimous." 

"The opening of the gates that the Beast wanted to perform can only be done once in a millennium," said Nicholas. "We are not monsters. With that threat past, we can wait. We have waited for over a thousand years, we can wait a few more decades. When your sister's natural life comes to an end, the Key will be released, and we have taken measures to ensure that it will return to us. Now I must ask you again, why do you seek us now?" 

"One of your people was murdered on Halloween," said Buffy. 

Nicholas and Darius exchanged a look. "Brother Nathanial?" asked Darius. 

"I know nothing of any murder," said Nicholas, "but Nathanial has been missing since October." 

"And did Nathanial know about the Key?" asked Buffy. 

"He did," said Nicholas. "And now I must ask you how you know of this." 

"The how isn't important," said Buffy. "I do know that one of your people was tortured to death by someone who is looking for the Key. He died without revealing its current…disposition, but he did reveal that it was at the school." 

"Who is seeking the Key?" asked Nicholas. 

"Some guy called Voldemort," said Buffy. Nicholas and Darius both hissed. "I see you've heard of him." 

"We have heard of him, Miss Summers," said Nicholas. 

"Why would he want the Key?" asked Buffy. 

"Voldemort wants power. There is great power in the Key." 

Buffy watched Nicholas. He was frowning, not at all happy about the information that Buffy had given him. She wondered if he was reconsidering his position on Dawn. "Just so we're clear: I wouldn't sacrifice Dawn to keep Glory from getting the Key, and I'm not going to sacrifice her to keep the Key from Voldemort either. If you're thinking about doing anything like that, think again. We can be allies, or enemies. Believe me: you don't want me as an enemy." 

"I do not wish to be your enemy, Miss Summers," said Nicholas, "but I think it is too early to talk of alliances." He paused to consider a bit more, and to let a couple of joggers pass out of earshot. "The magic we have wrapped around your sister to return the Key to us on her death should still hold, if Voldemort does succeed in capturing her. Any attempt on his part to make use of the Key without her cooperation will encompass her death." 

"Glory's bleeding didn't need her cooperation," said Buffy. 

"But that bleeding could only be done at that time, and in that place," said Nicholas. "It will be nearly a thousand years before it can be done again. While the Key is bound in its current form, with a conscious mind, that mind alone can wield its power." 

"And what sort of power does the Key have?" asked Buffy. 

Nicholas frowned again. "I think we will have to consider things carefully before imparting that sort of information to you, Miss Summers." He paused: the joggers were back. He waited until they had passed again. "I think it is time to end this meeting. We are attracting the attention of the DPG. If we learn anything we think you should know, we'll be in touch. Good day." He turned and walked away. Darius followed him, back along the path the way they had come. Buffy noticed that a couple of men who had seemed to be having a quiet conversation nearby started to follow them too. She and Giles started to leave in the opposite direction. 

Buffy heard the joggers approaching from behind them. This time they seemed to be engrossed in some sort of discussion with each other, and not really paying attention to where they were going. So much so that they actually managed to run into Giles and Buffy. 

The woman grabbed Buffy, seemingly to keep her from falling. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry! I wasn't watching where I was going!" Her hands brushed across Buffy's jacket, as if to rub off some dirt or something. "Are you all right?" The man was doing much the same thing with Giles. 

"I'm fine," said Buffy. "No need to apologise." 

"We really should have been paying more attention," said the man. "I'm very sorry." 

"Quite all right," said Giles. "No harm done." 

The joggers apologised again, and then continued on their way. Buffy smiled at them for a bit as she watched them depart. "I wonder if they're on their way to frisk Nicholas and Darius too? Good thing you talked me out of bringing that short sword." 

* * *

Buffy, Giles, Willow and Kennedy arrived back at Grimmauld Place. Harry had offered its use to them while they were in London for their meeting with the Knights, and had Dumbledore add Willow, Kennedy and Xander to the people included in the Secret Keeper's circle. Harry and Dawn were waiting for them, along with Tonks. 

"Well?" asked Dawn. 

Buffy looked around. There were too many people present who didn't know about the Key. "Not here," she said. 

Harry shrugged in understanding. "You can talk in the kitchen. The Order of the Phoenix uses it for their meetings, and it's warded against eavesdroppers. Just let me chase Kreacher out first." 

Dawn looked at him. "I'm sorry we can't tell you about this, Harry." 

"It's okay," lied Harry. "I understand." 

Buffy looked around. "Where's Xander?" 

"Oh, he went out," said Dawn. "He said he had an idea about how to deal with…" She pointed to the shuttered over picture of Sirius's mother. "He got into a shouting match with her earlier. Said she was worse than most of _his_ relatives, and then left to get some things." 

"What sort of things?" asked Buffy. 

"Tools," said Harry. "Asked if anyone knew anywhere nearby he could rent tools. We transfigured up a hammer and some other stuff for him, but we couldn't manage a power saw…plus there's no power here. He got this really wicked smile on his face, and left." 

Buffy frowned. "Okay…I guess. We don't have to tell him right away." 

Harry led the way down to the kitchen. He knocked on the door to Kreacher's cupboard. "Kreacher, come out please." 

The cupboard door opened, and Dawn saw Harry's House Elf for the first time. He was a stooped and wizened version of Dobby, wearing a plain white pillow case with holes cut in it for his arms and head. "What does Master require?" he asked sullenly. 

"We need to let my friends have a private talk," said Harry. "Come with me." He led Kreacher out of the kitchen, and closed the door behind them. 

Dawn took a peek in Kreacher's cupboard. It wasn't what she had expected from what she had heard Ron say about it. It was quite neat and clean, with a small elf-sized bed, covered with a quilt. There were shelves on which several knick-knacks were arranged. Dawn knew that they were things that Kreacher had salvaged from the cleaning of the house. Harry's godfather had tried to purge everything that reminded him of his family from it. The only surviving items were the portrait of Sirius's mother in the entry hall, and the tapestry of the Black family tree in the upstairs sitting room. So far no one had managed to find a way to get rid of either of them. Harry had mentioned going through Kreacher's stash of recovered items, and removing anything that had any touch of dark magic associated with it, but he let Kreacher keep most of the items he'd saved. Kreacher also had a list of daily chores that he had to perform, number one on it was keeping his cupboard clean and tidy. 

Dawn closed the cupboard door, feeling slightly embarrassed by her snooping. She turned back to Buffy, Giles and Willow. "So, what did you learn?" 

"The main thing is that the Knights know about the current disposition of the Key," said Buffy. Even with Harry's assurance that they couldn't be overheard, she felt it best to remain circumspect. 

Dawn felt a wave of panic rising in her. "They know? But that means…" 

"Relax!" said Buffy. "It's okay…well, not okay exactly, but he said that they've known for some time, but without the threat of Glory, they're willing to wait. It seems it will be another thousand years before anyone can use the Key to destroy the world, and Nick said they can wait a century or so before they take the Key back." 

"What do they know about Voldemort?" asked Dawn. 

"Not much," said Buffy. "They didn't even know he was looking for the Key until we told them." 

"Will that make them change their minds about waiting a century?" asked Dawn. 

"They said 'no,' but I'm not sure if I believe them," said Buffy. "They seem to think that they have taken measures to ensure that Voldemort won't be able to get his hands on the Key. They said that while you're alive no one can do anything with the Key without your cooperation, and they've taken precautions to return the Key to them if you die." Buffy turned her attention to Willow. "Will, he said that they had wrapped Dawn in magic to make the Key go back to them, if anything happened to her. Could you take a look at that? See if you can detect it? Find out if there are any holes in it?" 

"You want me to break it?" asked Willow. 

Buffy thought for a bit. Then she looked at Dawn. "It's up to you. Do you want the Key to go to the Knights if anything happens to you?" 

Dawn frowned as she thought about that. "I don't know. I've got this deep down…fear of the Knights of Byzantium. It's been there from the first time I laid eyes on them…and I don't think it's just because they were shooting arrows at me at the time. I mean I've been shot at lots, and I don't really feel about the other things that were doing the shooting the way I feel about the Knights. It's like everything I feel about them, and about the Key was programmed into me…which it was." 

"All of us have the same problem," said Giles. "We all received extensive conditioning, but as far as I can tell, we still have our free will. Our reason is still intact. Our initial emotional response to anything regarding the Key may be something that the Order of Dagon conditioned us to feel, but we are intelligent, self aware people, capable of rising above our basic emotional responses to a situation." 

"And who's to say our conditioned reactions are the _wrong_ reactions," said Buffy. "Maybe the Order of Dagon was right to want to protect the Key from the Knights of Byzantium. They strike me as awfully one track 'we're doing the will of God' in their thinking." 

"I'm going to have to think about this some more," said Dawn. 

"Take your time," said Willow. "It's going to take me a while to figure out what the Knights have done, and find out if I _can_ break it. If I can't do anything about it, whatever you want will be purely academic." 

"Meanwhile the head Knight has also said he's going to consider turning over whatever they know about the Key to us," said Buffy, "but I'm not holding out much hope." 

"If they do trust us enough to tell us what they know, it'll go a long way toward making me trust them with the Key," said Dawn. 

"True…but they may decide to just show us the stuff that makes it look like a really good idea to let them get control of it, while leaving out the stuff that makes them getting control of the Key look like a bad idea." 

"I'm afraid that we're spending much too much time trying to second guess ourselves, when we don't—" Giles was interrupted by what sounded like the growling whine of a small gasoline engine starting up. "God lord, what is that noise?" 

"I don't know." Buffy was already leading the way toward the kitchen door. She threw it open, and ran up the stairs with the others following her. They were all frozen by the sight that greeted them in the entry hall. 

"Xander?" asked Dawn. "Everyone, it's Xander! With a _chainsaw!_" 

Xander smiled at her, his eye protected by a pair of goggles. "I've wanted to do this ever since that time we got stuck in the frat house with the fear demon." He looked at Harry. "You're sure about this?" 

"I'm willing to try _anything_ to get rid of that thing." Harry was sitting beside Kennedy on the stairs. Tonks was sitting a little higher up, looking bemused. Kreacher was behind them all, looking very distressed. 

"Okay, here goes." Xander revved the motor on the chainsaw, and placed the tip of it against the wall beside the shutters covering the portrait of Mrs. Black, who was shouting obscenities that could be heard even above the roar of the engine. The saw sank into the wall, and Xander cut a quick slice down along the side of the picture. He repeated the cut on the other side, and then made a third cut along the bottom. 

Xander used a chair to stand on so he could get high enough to make the final cut along the top of the portrait. He killed the engine and stepped down off the chair. "You want to do the honours?" he asked Harry. He pulled the chair out of the way. 

Harry stood up from the stairs and smiled. "My pleasure." He planted a kick right in the center of the shutters, knocking the chunk of wall Xander had cut loose right into the next room. The portrait's shrieks had become completely unintelligible as its rage grew, and they reached a new level of stridency as it fell to the floor. 

"This was why you had to go rent tools?" asked Buffy. 

"Yep," said Xander. "Sure, I could have done it with a hand saw, but this was _so_ much more fun." 

"And it never occurred to anyone to just cut her out of the wall before?" asked Willow. 

"We tried severing charms," said Tonks, "but the wall is protected against those. It resists all forms of magical modification. But it seems it never occurred to my dear Aunt to protect her portrait from Muggle tools." 

"She was your aunt?" asked Dawn. 

"Great aunt, actually, but she burned the Tonks out of her family tree. I could show you if you like?" 

"Not necessary." Dawn looked through the hole at the portrait on the floor. "So now what do we do with it?" She had enough experience with wizard paintings now to know that they were semi-sentient. Actually destroying one, even one as unpleasant as Mrs. Black, felt almost like murder to her. 

"Crate it up, and stick it down in the basement," said Harry. "With no one to interact with it will just go dormant." 

"What about the hole?" asked Kennedy. 

"Oh, I can fix that," said Xander. "No problem. Fixing holes in walls is one of my specialties." 

"He got lots of practice back at our old house." Dawn leaned through the opening and looked around a bit. "I don't know…maybe you might want to keep the hole. It really opens this space up. It doesn't feel nearly as close in here now." 

"Or we could do that," said Xander. "I could frame in a nice window here for you." 

"Why don't we wait until after dinner before we worry about that." Buffy looked around. "When I checked out the kitchen earlier, the cupboards seemed kinda bare." She pulled out her phone. "Anyone know a takeout place that will deliver to an invisible house?" 

"We could floo over to the Leaky Cauldron," said Harry. 

"No," said Tonks. "You aren't to leave this house until it's time for you to go back to the Burrow." 

Buffy put her phone away. "And I don't want to be flooing anywhere, either right before, or right after a meal." She rubbed her stomach. "It totally ruins my appetite, and I don't think I could keep a meal down if I flooed right after it." 

Tonks smiled. "Okay, why don't I just collect everyone's orders, and then I can floo to the Cauldron for takeout." 


	45. The New Year

They stayed at Grimmauld Place for another day while Xander fixed the hole he'd made in the wall. Tonks, Willow and Dawn had all tried to repair it with magic, but the spells that had kept them from using magic to remove the portrait were still in effect, resisting their efforts to use magic to fix the wall too. They finally gave up, and Xander went shopping for the lumber and other supplies that he'd need to repair it. 

Harry insisted on paying for Xander's time. Xander tried to refuse. He only wanted to let Harry pay for the materials he needed to make the repairs, but Harry eventually prevailed and made him add his labour costs. Harry still thought that Xander was letting him off cheap, and decided to talk to Dawn privately about what the real hourly rate paid to carpenters was. 

* * *

Dawn tumbled out of the fireplace into the Great Hall of Giles' house. She sat up, and shook her head, waiting for the room to stop spinning around her. Buffy followed her out of the fireplace a few seconds later, and managed a much more graceful landing. 

"Whoa!" said Dawn. "That _is_ a weird way to travel." 

Buffy coughed, and brushed soot off her clothes. "Dirty too." 

"I can fix that." Dawn drew her wand and performed a couple of quick _Scourgify_ charms on herself and Buffy. "See, no problem!" 

"Ahem." 

Dawn turned around again and saw that a couple of people were staring at her and Buffy. "Oh. Hi guys." 

Andrew lifted the face guard on his helmet. He was completely decked out in Kendo body armour. "Um, what were you doing in the fireplace?" 

"Oh, Mr. Weasley had his friend on the Floo Regulation Panel hook it into the network," said Dawn. "We were just trying it out." She turned back to Buffy. "I don't understand what you said about your appetite. That was better than an E ticket ride at Disneyland!" 

"So, are the others following you through?" asked Faith. 

"Nope," said Buffy. "Everyone else opted to drive back with Giles. They should be here in a couple of hours. So how's it goin' here?" 

"Glad you're back, I'm almost ready to kill this guy." Faith waved her bamboo 'sword' in Andrew's direction. "I got it all planned out to make it look like a training accident." 

"Hey!" said Andrew. "I thought you were serious about teaching me to use a sword!" 

"I am," said Faith. "You're a frickin' hazard to everyone within twenty feet of you whenever you pick one up. Since I can't get you to leave them alone, I might as well teach you enough that at least you'll be more dangerous to the bad guys than you are to the rest of us. But if you don't stop with all the Star Wars light saber crap, I'll show you that even these practice swords can be deadly!" 

Andrew backed away. "I think it's time to go check on how dinner's coming." He quickly vanished in the direction of the kitchen. 

"I swear, if he couldn't cook, I think I _would_'ve killed him by now!" said Faith. 

"Who knew that he'd be good for something other than summoning demons for us to get rid of?" asked Buffy. 

"So how'd the meeting go?" asked Faith. 

"Better and worse than I'd hoped," said Buffy. "The Knights know more about the Key than I'm happy about, but they don't seem to be planning on doing anything about it." 

"So what's so all fired important about this Key?" asked Faith. 

"It's an ancient and powerful…artefact that can open the gates between the dimensions," said Buffy. "And we have to protect it." 

"Why?" asked Faith. "It seems to attract evil things, and I haven't heard of anyone doing anything useful with it. Why not just destroy it?" 

"That's not an option," said Buffy. 

"Why?" asked Faith. "I haven't heard any explanation for that other than 'because.'" 

"There are reasons," said Buffy. "I'm sorry, but I can't tell you what they are." 

"Your little inner circle all knows," said Faith. "Hell, it seems that even Andrew knows more than I do about this. You trust him more than me?" 

"Andrew doesn't really know anything," said Buffy. "And what he knows didn't come from us trusting him. He overheard a couple of things he shouldn't have back when he and his friends had our house bugged, and I've been tempted to ask Willow to do a memory erasure spell on him, but she's really touchy about those." She turned to Dawn. "Say, have you learned that neuralizer spell Tonks did in the train station?" 

"_Obliviate,_" said Dawn. "And no. They don't teach that one at school. It only gets taught to Aurors, and Obliviators who work for the Ministry. It is highly illegal for anyone else to use it. It's just a step below the Unforgivable curses." 

"Nice try at changing the subject," said Faith. 

"We're not changing the subject!" objected Buffy. "Okay, we did, but we didn't mean it that way. Faith, we haven't told _anyone_ about the Key who wasn't directly involved the first time. It isn't just you." She turned back to Dawn again. "Right? You haven't told any of your new friends?" 

"Nothing that isn't ancient history," said Dawn. 

"You don't even trust me enough for the ancient history parts of it!" said Faith. "I've been told squat!" 

"We haven't been excluding you Faith," said Buffy. "You've been in Cleveland, and you're going back there after the holidays are over. There's been no reason to tell you." 

"Yeah. No reason to tell the killer." 

"That's not it at all!" said Buffy. "We haven't told _anyone!_" 

"Typical. You never tell anyone anything!" Faith turned away from Buffy and nearly ran out of the room. 

"Faith!" Buffy started after her. 

Dawn caught her sister's arm. "Let me do this." 

Buffy looked back at her. "What?" 

"We agreed that no one gets told about the Key without my say so," said Dawn. "It's my fault we haven't told Faith, not yours." 

* * *

Dawn found Faith in the training room. This one was quite a bit different from the one the Room of Requirement had made for Ginny. It was full of modern equipment, and everything was clean and sterile. Nothing in it looked improvised, or home made. It looked like it had been equipped by someone with a no-limit credit card who was sent out to buy the best of all the training equipment available, which is pretty much how it _was_ equipped. Faith was letting loose on a punching bag, and from the way she was going at it Dawn thought that they'd have to get it replaced soon. 

Dawn circled around Faith, keeping her distance until she was sure the Slayer had recognised her, and then she moved in to brace the punching bag for her. "So, you imagining this is Buffy now?" 

"Yeah." Faith hit the bag with a hard punch. "Big Sis send you to try to calm me down?" 

"Nope, I sent myself. I figured if Buffy came and tried to talk with you, you'd end up trying to beat the crap out of each other, and then you'd be all bruised for the party tonight. Neither of you are very good at the talking thing, and I didn't want you frightening my friends." 

"I just don't like being left in the dark. I know that something big is happening, and B doesn't trust me with it." Faith hit the bag with a spinning kick. 

Dawn was rocked back by the force of the blow. "Buffy does trust you. It's not her fault we haven't told you." 

"Yeah?" Faith took a step back from the bag. "Then whose fault is it?" 

"Mine," said Dawn. 

"Yours?" Faith looked genuinely surprised. "How could B not telling me something be your fault?" 

"Because I'm the one who decides who does and doesn't get told about the Key." 

"And why is that?" asked Faith. 

"Because I _am_ the Key." 

"What?" 

"I'm the Key," said Dawn. "Or rather, the Key is part of me. When the monks decided that the Key needed to be hidden, and protected from all comers, they put it into me, so Buffy would protect it." 

"So this Voldemort guy is looking for you." 

"Yeah, only he doesn't know that yet, we hope," said Dawn. "After Glory died we thought that no one else knew, outside of the Scoobies, and we decided to keep it that way. We didn't tell anyone else about the Key, figured it was best that way. There hadn't been any reason to tell you, up until now." 

"What changed?" asked Faith. 

"Well, for starters, the Key isn't nearly as big a secret as we'd hoped," said Dawn. "The Knights of Byzantium know about it, and prior to the news about Voldemort, they were the group we were mostly worried about, since they want to destroy it. 

"But the most important thing is…I don't want you thinking that we don't trust you. We do trust you Faith. I trust you. Buffy trusts you. We weren't keeping the information from you because we didn't trust you, we did it because we do. We knew you'd protect me, even if you didn't know why." 

"You're not afraid I'll run off and join the other team, now that I've got this really juicy piece of information to sell them?" asked Faith. 

"No," said Dawn. "You've changed, Faith. You aren't the person you used to be, and I don't think you ever want to become that person again. Now, I suggest that you go have a shower. You don't want to be all sweaty when Charlie gets here." 

"Hey!" said Faith. "I'm not interested in Charlie! He's a nice guy and all, but I'm with Robin now." 

Dawn grinned at her. "See? You have changed. The old Faith would have dumped Principal Wood months ago, and racked up another dozen notches on her bedposts between then and now." 

* * *

Dawn stood nervously by the fireplace and picked invisible lint off the red blouse she was wearing, wishing that Buffy hadn't made her go back to her room and change from the first top she had come down in. Buffy wasn't happy with the black leather pants either, but she didn't make Dawn change them too. Dawn looked at her sister. "What time is it?" 

"About thirty seconds past the last time you asked me the time." 

"I wish you let me wear the other outfit," said Dawn. "I looked hot in it." 

"You looked like a streetwalker…and I can't believe I'm channelling Mom." Buffy shook her head. "Dawn, it isn't just Harry who's coming tonight. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley are going to be here too, and they're the closest thing he's got to parents now. You have to make a good impression on them too." She gave her sister an appraising look. In addition to the red blouse, and black leather pants she was wearing a silk scarf, and earrings that she had received from Harry for Christmas. "Don't worry. You look great!" 

Green flames filled the fireplace, and Dawn turned expectantly toward it. She tried to hide her disappointment as the dark skinned boy tumbled out of it onto the hearth. He sat up and looked around hopefully, and a similar look of disappointment flashed across his face. 

Dawn put on a smile and held out her hand to help him to his feet. "Hi Dean. You're the first to arrive." 

Dean smiled back, and started to brush the soot from his clothes. "Of course. Couldn't have the Weasley's show up on time. That's one of the signs of the apocalypse." 

Buffy smiled at him. "Actually, no…I think I've seen most of the signs, and that's not one of them." 

"Oh. Hi Miss Summers," said Dean. "Thanks for inviting me." 

"Buffy, and I'm glad you could come. Dawn, why don't you introduce Dean to everyone?" 

Dawn had just finished using her wand to clean the soot off Dean. She led him away to introduce him to the others. 

Dawn was introducing Dean to Xander when the fire flared green again. She turned toward it just in time to see Fred and George come tumbling out. They managed to roll to their feet, having had much more experience at Floo travel than the Muggle-born Dean Thomas. They were followed closely by Bill, Charlie and Ron. Dean and Dawn were both watching the cavalcade of arrivals hopefully as they moved toward them. 

Dean was the first to see who he was waiting for. Ginny's exit from the fireplace was a thing of beauty. A graceful roll that looked totally effortless, and one that Dawn knew only a Slayer could pull off. She managed to complete it by coming to her feet directly in front of Dean. "Missed you." She wrapped her arms around him, and gave him a kiss. 

"Missed you too," said Dean after Ginny let him come up for air. He looked around the room and saw five pairs of eyes from Ginny's older brothers, all glaring at him. "Um, hi guys." He looked around a little more and saw that Harry had arrived, and was getting a greeting from Dawn that was very similar to the one he had gotten from Ginny, and that Xander was glaring at them in much the same way that Ginny's brothers were glaring at him. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had also arrived, and were looking much more amused by the public displays of affection going on than annoyed. Mrs. Weasley started to bustle around her brood, performing quick cleaning charms on everyone. Dean and Dawn did not escape her attention, since they had collected a fair amount of soot from their greetings of Ginny and Harry. 

Dawn showed her friends around the house. Ron was impressed by the buffet of food laid out in the dining room; Dean was impressed by the library. "I don't think I've ever seen so many magical references in a Muggle house before," he told Dawn. He noticed some books that were kept in a locked bookcase. "Some of these have copies in the restricted section of the Hogwarts library! Why do you guys have so many books on the Dark Arts?" he asked suspiciously. 

"Because you have to know about them in order to fight them," said Dawn. "Giles has been fighting against the Dark Arts for over twenty years. Mostly demons and other Dark Creatures, but he's come up against a Dark Wizard or two in his time." She really didn't want to talk about this. So far Dean still didn't know about Slayers, and Ginny wanted to keep it that way, so Dawn decided to distract him. "Come on, there's a really neat exercise room that Buffy uses too!" 

Dawn found that Tonks and Professor Lupin had arrived when they got back to the main room. They were watching with amusement while Mr. Weasley attempted to dissect a lamp. Dawn quickly checked to make sure that the lamp had been unplugged. It wouldn't do for one of their guests to electrocute themselves. Mrs. Weasley wasn't looking nearly as amused. Giles was quietly assuring her that he didn't mind in the least…this wasn't his Grandmother's lamp. 

The party spread out as the evening progressed. The older people gravitated to the library where they could talk without having to shout over the music the youngsters were dancing to in the Great Hall. People kept moving around between the hall, library, dining and training rooms. That made it easy for Dawn and Harry to slip away from the party without anyone noticing. 

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Harry asked as Dawn led him up the stairs. 

"This is a great idea," said Dawn. "We haven't had any alone time for like, weeks!" 

"Twelve days," said Harry with a grin. 

"Lot of time to make up for." Dawn opened the door to her room and pulled Harry in with her. 

Harry looked around the room. It was big and comfortable, and…sterile looking. It almost looked like it belonged in a hotel, there was almost nothing in it that proclaimed it to be Dawn's. There were no pictures on the walls, and only a few school books on the desk. "This is…nice." 

Dawn seemed to sense what he meant. "Yeah, it is, but I haven't had a chance to do anything with it yet. I spent a week here this summer, and now this two week vacation, but I haven't had a chance to make it mine. A vamp could probably just come waltzing in." 

Harry sat on the bed. He noticed a framed picture on the bedside table and picked it up. It was a photo of Dawn and Buffy with an older, blonde woman. "Is this your Mum?" 

A distant sadness passed over Dawn's face as she sat down beside him. "Yeah, it is." 

Harry put the picture back down. "Sorry. Didn't mean to upset you." 

"No, I'm not upset. I mean yeah, thinking about her does make me sad sometimes, but I like to remember her." 

"I can't really remember my Mum," said Harry. "Just impressions…and nightmares from the night she died. I didn't even know what she looked like until I was almost twelve, and Hagrid gave me a photo album of pictures with her and Dad." 

"Oh, Harry—" 

"Don't," said Harry. "I don't want your pity." He looked back at the picture of Buffy, Dawn and Joyce. "She's very beautiful." He smiled shyly at her. "Almost as beautiful as her daughter." 

Dawn blushed. "I'm not—" 

Harry's mouth twisted into an impish grin. "I meant Buffy." 

Dawn looked surprised for a moment, and then she whacked him on the arm. "Harry!" 

"Ow!" Harry rubbed his arm. 

"You deserved it!" said Dawn. 

"Oh yeah? And you deserve this!" Harry reached out and started to tickle her. 

Dawn squealed and grabbed Harry. She pulled him back with her onto the bed while they tussled. They wound up lying face to face. Harry stopped and looked into her eyes. He brushed her hair away from her face. "Neither of them holds a candle to you." He kissed her. 

They lay together on her bed for a long time, holding and kissing each other. Harry's hand on Dawn's back slowly started to move, coming around her side, and sliding up over her breast. He gently caressed her. He could feel her heart pounding beneath it, just as fast as his own. 

Harry's mouth left Dawn's, and he pulled back a bit. His green eyes looked deep into her blue. His hand stayed on her breast. "You don't mind this do you?" 

"Quite the opposite," said Dawn. "I like it a lot." She closed her eyes, and brought her mouth forward to meet his again. 

Harry was starting to think about undoing a few of Dawn's buttons when there was a knock on the door. "Dawn, are you in there?" came Buffy's voice from the other side of it. 

Dawn and Harry pulled away from each other, and sat up on the bed. She quickly straightened her blouse. "Yeah! Come in!" 

Buffy opened the door and saw Dawn and Harry sitting together on her bed, looking flushed. Her eyes quickly scanned them both and saw that their clothes were still all in place, even if they were a little rumpled. She smiled. "Uh, it's almost midnight. Are you two going to come down and ring in the New Year with the rest of us?" 

"Oh, uh, yeah." Dawn got up off her bed, and Harry followed her. "We're coming." 

"Uh, Harry?" asked Buffy. 

He stopped and looked at her. "Yes?" 

"You might want to stop by the bathroom before you go downstairs. You've got a little…" Buffy brushed her fingers across her lips. "…you might want to clean up a bit." 

Harry rubbed the back of his hand across his mouth, and blushed when he saw red streaks, the colour of Dawn's lipstick, were left on it. "Er…yeah. Er, which way?" 

Dawn pointed to a door. "In there." 

Harry disappeared into the bathroom. Buffy gave Dawn a look too. "You might want to do a little touching up too." 

"Uh…we were just…" 

"Making out?" Buffy grinned. "Yeah, I figured that out." 

"Uh…you're not mad?" 

"Why should I be mad?" asked Buffy. "I like Harry, he's a good guy, and unlike most of my boyfriends, he's got a pulse." 

"And we were born in the same century," said Dawn. 


	46. Back to School

Dawn had a large contingent of friends to see her off at platform nine and three quarters. After saying goodbye to her, the group from Cleveland was heading to Heathrow to catch their flight back to the U.S. For once the Weasleys broke with tradition and they got themselves to the platform with plenty of time to spare. They all stood around talking with each other, not really wanting to say goodbye, and waiting for Hermione. 

Ron looked around again. "It's not like her to be late." 

"She did say she'd be here, didn't she?" asked Dawn. 

"Yeah, I got an owl from her yesterday," said Ron. "Said she and her parents would be getting into London last night, and that she'd meet us here this morning." 

"So what's keeping her?" asked Harry. 

Dawn looked back toward the archway leading out into the rest of King's Cross Station. "I think I know." 

Everyone followed her gaze, and saw Hermione hobbling toward them on crutches, with the lower half of her right leg encased in a plaster cast. Her parents were following behind, with her trunk, and Crookshanks' travel cage. 

Ron was staring at Hermione's leg. "What's that?" 

"It's called a cast," said Harry. 

"What's it for?" 

"Immobilizing broken bones," said Dawn. "Had one on my arm once." 

"_Hermione! What did you do?_" 

Hermione had finally gotten close enough to enter the conversation. "I broke my leg." 

"Hey!" said Xander. "It's a very traditional thing to do on a skiing holiday." 

"Yeah," said Buffy. "It gives you an excuse to sit by the fire in the chalet, and get all the cute guys to run and fetch you drinks and snacks and stuff." 

"But why didn't you just get it fixed?" asked Ron. "Why's it in that…cast thing?" 

"Because the ski patrol took me straight to the clinic, where the doctors set the bone, and put the cast on me," said Hermione. "I didn't have a chance to go to a wizard healer before a whole lot of Muggles knew I had a broken leg, and they would have been a little surprised to see me walking around on it the next day." She grinned at Buffy. "And it was kinda fun the way all the guys waited on me, hand and foot. I made lots of new friends." 

Ron pushed down a feeling of jealousy. "So you're gonna be in that thing forever now?" 

"Of course not!" said Hermione. "Even if I didn't do anything, it'd be healed in a couple of months, but I've already owled Madam Pomfrey. She'll fix it as soon as I get back to Hogwarts." 

"Does it hurt?" asked Ron. 

"Mostly it just itches…a lot!" said Hermione. 

"Come on," said Buffy. "Let's get your stuff onto the train." She took Crookshanks from Mrs. Granger and handed him to Xander, and took Hermione's trunk herself. 

With Buffy and Xander carrying Hermione's things they got everyone onto the train. They gave Dawn hugs goodbye, and returned to the platform, to wait with the others for the train's departure. They waved goodbye as the Hogwarts Express pulled out of the station. 

Dawn, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny and Dean settled down in the compartment they were sharing. Ron kept looking at Hermione's cast. He pointed to it. "Why's that there?" 

Hermione looked at where Ron was pointing, and saw the name written on the cast. "Oh, it's a Muggle tradition, to sign casts. That's Sven…he was a really nice ski instructor who gave me some lessons the day before it happened. He felt kinda bad about it…blamed himself a bit I think, but it really was my fault. I wasn't ready for that double black diamond run." 

"And that?" asked Ron, pointing to another name. 

"Eric," said Hermione. "He was on the ski patrol team that brought me down the mountain. He was really sweet." 

Ron was frowning. "I don't see any girl's names here." 

"Oh sure there are!" Hermione looked over the cast for a moment, before she pointed to one. "See, right there!" 

"That's your mother," said Ron. 

"Oh, right…" Hermione looked some more. "I'm sure there's another one here somewhere…" 

Dawn pulled out a pen. "Here." She wrote her name in a clear spot down near Hermione's ankle. She handed the pen to Ginny when she was done. "Your turn." 

Ginny added her own name, and then passed off the pen to Dean, who gave it to Harry when he was done. Harry gave the pen to Ron. 

"Don't know why we're bothering," muttered Ron as he added his name to the cast. "It's going to be gone half an hour after we get back to Hogwarts." 

"I'm going to ask Madam Pomfrey to keep it intact when she takes it off," said Hermione. "It will make a nice souvenir." 

* * *

Hermione used a _Mobilis_ charm on her trunk, and Crookshanks' cage so they followed her off the train without having to get anyone to carry them for her. Madam Pomfrey was waiting for her in the entry hall of the castle when they got there. She just shook her head and muttered something under her breath about the primitive state of Muggle medicine as she whisked Hermione away to the hospital wing while the rest of the students made their way to their dormitories. There wasn't a welcome back feast for the end of the Christmas holiday: Dumbledore figured that everyone had probably had quite enough feasting to last them a month or two by that point. Dinner that evening wouldn't be any different from the usual (but always excellent) Hogwarts fare. 

* * *

Hermione came walking into their room, carrying her cast in one hand, and her crutches in the other just a few minutes before Dawn and Ginny were about to head down to dinner. She waved the cast at them. "So what should I do with this?" 

"I don't know," said Ginny. "Maybe you could turn it into an umbrella stand." 

"Or maybe put a pot in the top, with some sort of plant in it," said Dawn. 

"Or you could keep swords in it," said Ginny. She saw the look Hermione was giving her. "Okay, maybe not swords." 

Dawn grinned. "Just means you're starting to think like a Slayer." 

* * *

The normal routine of school was reestablished quickly. The professors seemed to be handing out even more homework. Professor Snape was even more snarly than he had been through the autumn, and Dawn began to see that her friends really hadn't been exaggerating the way he could act sometimes. One incident—which started out with Snape's scathing criticism of a minor mistake made by Neville—escalated into most of their potions class serving detentions for a week, and 50 points lost for Gryffindor, 20 for Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, and 10 points lost for Slytherin, after Harry, Dawn, Ron and Hermione all protested his behaviour. Their lab partners were much more upset by the detentions than they were over the lost points after Blaise pointed out the effect on the house standings after it was all over was the same as it would have been if Snape had just given 30 points to Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, and 40 to Slytherin. 

January passed quickly. Buffy came in to do another 'guest lecturer' spot for the Defense Against the Dark Arts classes. This time they got lectures on some of the nastier demons that haunted the world, and the ways to deal with them. Buffy's number one instruction: "Run!" The visit also happened to correspond with Buffy's birthday. She and Dawn spent most of that week expecting some sort of catastrophe to befall them, but the Buffy Birthday Jinx seemed to skip them this year. Buffy also had a present for Dawn: an ancient volume about the Key, written in Attic Greek, that she had received from Captain General Nicholas. 

* * *

Harry knocked on the door to Professor Dumbledore's office one day in late January. He was there for his Occlumency lesson. They had cut back to once a week after school had resumed, and Harry thought that he was doing quite well. Professor Dumbledore seemed to be pleased with his progress. 

Harry only heard the singing of the phoenix in reply to his knock, so he opened the door and entered the office. It wasn't unusual for the Professor to be a little late. Between running the school, heading up the Order of the Phoenix, being the Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, and half a dozen other duties, Professor Dumbledore was a very busy man. 

Today there was something a little unusual sitting on the Professor's desk. Harry recognised it right away. It was Professor Dumbledore's Pensive. The familiar stone bowl sat on the desk, holding a swirling mist of memories. Harry stood and looked at it for a moment, feeling the temptation to stick his head into it to see what memories it contained. He was only tempted for a moment though. After contemplating the Pensive for a few seconds he turned away from it, toward Fawkes, and pulled some Owl Treats out of his pocket. "I never asked, do you like these?" 

Fawkes gave a trill in response that Harry took to mean 'Yes.' He dumped a few of the treats out into his hand, and held it up for the phoenix to eat. "Here you go, boy." 

Fawkes daintily pecked the treats from his hand, and trilled a 'Thank you,' to Harry. 

"You're welcome," said Harry. 

"That bird is going to get fat, if he isn't careful," said Professor Dumbledore. 

Harry turned around quickly. "Oh, sorry professor." 

"Don't be sorry," said Professor Dumbledore, "Fawkes is older, and possibly wiser than anyone in this room. He is quite capable of regulating his own diet." 

"'Possibly wiser'?" asked Harry. 

"It is hard to tell sometimes," said Dumbledore. "Fawkes tends to keep his own counsel most of the time, but then gets quite smug when things work out in ways that I didn't expect, as if he knew what was going to happen all along. But since he never _tells_ me such things ahead of time, it's difficult to say if he is truly wise, or just like to amuse himself by pretending to be so." 

Harry grinned at the idea of Fawkes treating Dumbledore the way he often felt that Dumbledore treated him. It was nice to know that the Professor knew what it felt like to be on the receiving end. 

Harry took his usual seat in front of the Professor's desk. "So what are we going to do today?" Dumbledore hadn't given him any special assignment, beyond the usual instructions to work on clearing his mind each night before going to bed. He had said that he had a 'surprise' planned for today's session. Harry wondered if the Pensive would play a part in it. 

Dumbledore didn't let him down. "We are going to be doing something different today. I want you to take a look at some memories." 

"Whose memories, sir?" asked Harry. 

Dumbledore just smiled. "I think you will figure that out on your own. Now, I want you to relax, and clear all thoughts from your mind." 

Harry took a few deep breaths, and closed his eyes. He let his consciousness just drift away, not thinking. He didn't even think about not thinking. He just let his mind go blank. It had taken him months to learn how to do that. 

He felt a slight touch at his temple, and then he was somewhere else. This was different from his previous experiences with the Pensive. He didn't feel like he was an observer of someone else's memories. He was experiencing the memory for himself. He felt like he was sitting cross legged on something soft, with his eyes closed. He could feel something subtle stirring around him, and he knew that he was the cause of it. It was concentrating in front of him, and slowly buoying something up. He just knew that this time he'd gotten it right. This time it had worked, after so many failed attempts. He opened his eyes, and saw the feather floating in front of him. He let out a loud _whoop!_ of joy, that sounded strangely high pitched to him. His concentration was broken, and he lost control over the magic. The feather fell back down onto the bed. 

Now that his eyes were open, Harry looked around. He was in a strange bedroom, one that was full of Muggle furnishings. He could see an aquarium that didn't seem to have any fish in it, just a plastic diver figure. There was a desk with an old computer on it. It looked like it was fresh from the box, but the computer model itself looked like one Dudley had had, several years ago. There was a poster on the wall with some stylized dogs, and a baby carriage that proclaimed _Dingos Ate My Baby_ whatever the heck that was supposed to mean. 

Harry also became aware of some strange sensations coming from his body. There was an unusual heaviness about his chest. He looked down at himself, and saw that he was a she. 

"_Whoa!_" 

The surprise caused Harry to jump out of his…her body, and he found he was suddenly an observer of the memory, like he had been in his previous experiences with the Pensive. Now he could see the girl whose memory he had experienced, and he recognised her. It was Willow, looking several years younger than she now did. She appeared to be sixteen or seventeen. She was sitting on the bed, with a big grin on her face, looking at the single white feather lying on the bedspread in front of her. 

Harry felt a tugging at his temple, and he felt the memory being pulled away. He was back in his body, sitting in front of Professor Dumbledore's desk. He saw the Professor pulling the wisp of memory away from his head with his wand, and dropping it back into the Pensive. "What was that?" 

Dumbledore smiled at him. "I'm sure that you can tell me." 

"Okay, yes, it was a memory of Willow Rosenberg's, using magic to float a feather, but why did you show it to me? You didn't just show me either…I experienced it." 

"Yes," said Professor Dumbledore. "If you can achieve sufficient clarity of consciousness you will experience a memory that is placed into your mind from the Pensive, rather than just observe it. I judged that you were ready." 

"Okay," said Harry, "but _why?_" 

"Miss Rosenberg was kind enough to let me borrow a few significant memories from the development of her powers. That was the first time she successfully levitated anything." 

"Okay," said Harry, "but _why?_" 

"It was the first time she ever really managed to feel, and manipulate the magic around her." 

"Okay," said Harry, "but _why?_" 

Dumbledore smiled. "I wanted you to feel what it felt like, in the hope that it would aide you in accomplishing the same thing." 

"_What?_" 

"I told you last spring that you have within you a power that Voldemort has not at all. It is a power that you share with Miss Rosenberg. It is the ability to manipulate not just your own internal magic, but also the magic of the world around you." 

"You think that I can do magic the way Willow does it." 

"You have the potential," said Dumbledore. "It is a very rare ability, we haven't seen anyone with as much potential in Hogwarts for many decades. Your mother had it a bit—that was the magic that she used to protect you from Voldemort—but she didn't have anywhere near as much power as Miss Rosenberg, or as you may be able to develop." 

"Er…why didn't you say anything about this before?" 

"Trying to push you into this before you were ready could have had disastrous consequences. You are still quite young. Miss Rosenberg was a year older than you in that memory you experienced, and she herself was too immature to handle the powers she was soon to unleash." 

"What sort of consequences." 

"Miss Rosenberg let me have some of her memories of those things too. I may be showing them to you in future sessions, call them warnings of what could happen to you if you lose control." 

"If I'm too immature, why show me anything?" 

"I didn't say you are too immature," said Dumbledore. "I said that you are younger than Miss Rosenberg was when she started to work with magic, and that _she_ was too immature. Maturity and age are not the same thing. I have hopes that you will fare better." 

"You hope." 

"Yes," said Dumbledore. "And also, like Miss Rosenberg, there is a pressing need for you to develop your abilities. She had to do it to aide her friends in their defense against the various creatures that were attracted to the Hellmouth. I fear that Voldemort will not continue to hide in the shadows for much longer. He will soon be ready to begin a more active campaign in his quest for power. I am afraid that you will have to face him, sooner rather than later." 

Professor Dumbledore took a small white feather out of a drawer, and layed it on his desk. "Now, I want you to remember what it felt like for Miss Rosenberg to float her feather, and try to do the same." 


	47. The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre

February came in with a blizzard, on the same day as the Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff Quidditch match, and Dawn learned that Quidditch really was an all-weather sport. The game went ahead in conditions that approached a whiteout at times. Most of the school elected to watch it from _inside_ the castle. The Great Hall was transformed into a theatre, with the game projected, in full 3-D over where the Professor's table usually was. Very few die-hard fans braved the conditions in the stands, even bundled up in enchanted warming cloaks, and mittens, and hats. A protection charm, like the one which had covered the Weasley's garden table, would have made the game _completely_ invisible to anyone under the bubble. 

Conditions were so bad that Ginny couldn't see half way across the pitch most of the time. She and Summerby, the Hufflepuff Seeker, had started out the game with an unspoken understanding between them. They stuck together, so that when the Snitch did turn up, they'd both have an equal chance of seeing it, and it would be a contest of skill to see who could catch it first, rather than just luck. 

Four hours later—and after they had both gone tearing down to the other end of the pitch a few times after someone from one team or another had shouted out after spotting the Snitch themselves, only to have it vanish again before they got there—Ginny was starting to think that she just wanted the game _over_. "Screw this!" she told Summerby. "If we split up, we've got twice as much chance of seeing the damn thing!" 

Summerby spent all of half a second thinking about that. Then he smiled, and saluted her. "Good luck!" he called, and disappeared into the blowing snow. 

Half an hour later Ginny heard shouting from the other end of the pitch. She started to race toward the sound, but then she heard the blast from Madam Hootch's whistle signalling the end of the match before she got there. It was over, and she hadn't even _seen_ the Snitch. She thought she should feel disappointed, but all she really felt was thankful that she could get in out of the snow now. 

Madam Pomfrey had hot Pepperup Potion for all of the Quidditch players, and the few spectators who had stayed out in the blizzard, waiting in the entry hall of the castle. The rest of the students were being held in the Great Hall, to give the players a chance to warm up before being subjected to the congratulations, or consolations of their peers. After the steam had stopped coming out his ears, Harry went to congratulate the Hufflepuff team captain for a game well played. 

The two teams went their separate ways after exchanging handshakes. The Hufflepuffs down the stairs toward their dorms, and the Gryffindors up the stairs toward their tower. Now that she was starting to feel warm again, Ginny started to feel sorry for losing the game. Gryffindor had been up forty points before Summerby caught the Snitch. She quickened her pace a bit to catch up with Harry. "Sorry I missed it," she said. 

Harry smiled at her. "Hey, no big! I was happy to get out of the cold! We're still not in bad shape for winning the cup. Ravenclaw is the only undefeated team now. If we do well against them, we can still win on points." 

"I didn't even _see_ the Snitch!" said Ginny. 

"Neither did I," said Harry. "Half the game, I couldn't even see the Quaffle! Conditions like that, it's luck more than skill that picks the winner. Lady Luck doesn't play favourites. Next game the luck could go your way." 

* * *

Dawn moved through the stacks in the library with a list of books she wanted to get. They were all books that she had found before Christmas that had contained some sort of information about the Key. She wanted to have a second look at them, to see if they made more sense now that she had read the book Buffy had gotten from the Knights. She frowned at an empty slot on one of the shelves. That was the third time she had found that a book she wanted was missing. She went back to the library table at which Hermione was sitting, nearly hidden behind stacks of books of her own. Dawn placed her list on the open page of the book Hermione was reading at the moment, startling her. "You don't have any of these books do you?" 

Hermione scanned the list. "I've got _Ancient Mystical Artefacts_ here." She pulled a book out of the middle of one of her piles and gave it to Dawn along with her list. "I don't have the others." 

Dawn crossed that book off her list. "You don't think Ron or Harry would have checked them out do you?" Dawn saw the expression on Hermione's face. "Okay. Silly idea. Forget I said it, and I'm pretty sure Ginny doesn't have them." 

"Why don't you ask Madam Pince?" asked Hermione. 

"I guess…" Dawn took her list and went looking for the Librarian. Normally she tried to avoid the old witch. (And this old witch was a _witch_ in the old derogatory Muggle sense.) Madam Pince disliked students almost as much as Professor Snape did. She considered it her duty to protect the library's books from the students, not to help the students find information in the books. 

Madam Pince was in her usual position: guarding the door to make sure that none of her precious books wandered out of the library under the arm of any student without a proper record being made of who had taken it. "Excuse me, Madam Pince? Could you help me?" 

Madam Pince frowned at Dawn. "What do you want?" 

Dawn handed over her list. "Um…I'm looking for these books, and they aren't in the stacks. I was wondering if you could tell me if someone has checked them out?" 

Madam Pince glanced at the list, and then held it back out to Dawn. "Draco Malfoy." 

"What?" asked Dawn. 

"Draco Malfoy checked those books out yesterday," said Madam Pince. "They are due back in thirteen days." 

Dawn was feeling a little stunned. It took her a moment to notice the piece of parchment Madam Pince was holding out toward her. "Oh, um, thank you." She took her list of books and started back toward the table at which Hermione was working. Why would Draco Malfoy be reading books about the Key? 

Hermione looked up as Dawn sat down beside her. "Why are you looking for those books anyway? Haven't you read them already?" 

"I just wanted to give them a second look." Dawn tried not to sound guilty. She hadn't told Hermione or the others about the book she had gotten from Buffy. "See if they make more sense on another read through." 

"Hmm." Hermione seemed to believe her. She went back to reading her book while Dawn picked up _Ancient Mystical Artefacts_ and flipped to the section that discussed the Key. 

* * *

Harry and Ron came down the steps into the entry hall together. They saw a gaggle of girls all crowded around the notice board, giggling and talking excitedly with each other. "What do you think that's about?" asked Harry. 

"I don't know mate, but I doubt if it's good news." Ron saw Ginny break away from the group, and start toward the entrance to the Great Hall. "Oi! Ginn! What's up?" He pointed his thumb toward the notice board when she turned to look at him. 

"Valentine's Day is a week from Saturday," said Ginny. "We're having a dance." 

Ron grinned at Harry. "See…I _told_ you it couldn't be good news." 

"It's going to be a formal," said Ginny. "Dress robes are required." 

"Better and better," said Ron. 

"At least you've got a decent set of robes now," said Harry. "Finally going to get the chance to wear 'em." 

"Hey…I wonder if anyone's going to be sending you any singing Valentines this year?" asked Ron. He saw both Harry and Ginny blush. No one had ever gotten her to admit it, but everyone suspected that she'd been the one to send the singing Valentine to Harry in his second year. 

"No one had better be sending Harry Valentines…singing or otherwise," said Dawn from behind them. "Other than me, that is." 

Harry spun around and saw Dawn smiling at him. "So…er…dance…Valentine's Day…You wanna go?" 

"How could I refuse such a debonaire invitation?" asked Dawn. 

Harry looked back at Ron. "She's making fun of me, isn't she?" 

"Just go with it," said Ron. "It's not the sort of thing you can win." He smiled at Hermione. "So, are we going to the dance?" 

She smiled back. "We're going to the dance." 

* * *

Dawn stood in front of her wardrobe, looking at its contents in dismay. "I have nothing to wear!" 

Hermione found that hard to believe. Dawn had more clothes than anyone she knew. She was worse than Lavender in that department. Hermione generally didn't worry much about what she wore. Her school robes were fine for her. She wore them pretty much all the time, but Dawn wore a different outfit every day, even if she did cover it with her robes during classes. Sometimes she wore more than one outfit a day. "What do you mean you have nothing to wear?" 

"The Valentine's Dance!" said Dawn. "I don't have any dress robes!" 

"Oh!" said Hermione. "All the regular students are told to get them in their fourth year. I guess with you starting late, they forgot to tell you." 

"I guess there's no help for it," said Dawn. "I'll have to go shopping." 

"You make it sound like such a hardship." 

"Well, yeah! I mean I'm going to have to do it on Saturday, right before the dance, and what if I can't find anything I like in so little time? I might end up having to wear something horrid!" 

"I'm afraid that time isn't going to be your biggest constraint," said Hermione. "The only place in Hogsmeade where you can buy dress robes is Gladrags." 

"We should see if we can find you new robes too, while we're there," said Dawn. 

"What's wrong with the ones I've got?" 

* * *

"You're going shopping for robes?" asked Harry. 

"Yeah," said Dawn. "Wanna come with us?" 

Harry exchanged a look with Ron, and saw the desperate shake of his head. "Er…there's a new model of the Firebolt coming out…I want to check it out…how about we do that while you go shopping for your robes…that way you can surprise me tonight." Harry smiled weakly, hoping that that last line would get him off the hook. "Er…we can meet later at Madam  Puddifoot's for tea?" 

Dawn smiled. She really hadn't expected Harry to want to come with her. She'd seen Xander's panicked expression enough times when Buffy or Willow had suggested he come shopping with them. She did admire his dodge though. "It's okay. I won't make you watch me turn into the dreaded shopping demon. We'll meet you at about three?" 

"Sounds like a plan," said Harry. 

* * *

The three couples set out for Hogsmeade right after lunch. They walked together until they came to Gladrags Wizardwear, at which point they stopped, and Dawn gave Harry a goodbye kiss. "See you in a couple of hours." 

Harry, Ron and Dean headed off toward the Quidditch shop. Ginny watched them go a little wistfully: she wanted to see the new Firebolt too, but she had promised to help Dawn and Hermione with their robe selection. She was much more familiar with wizard fashions than either of them. She regretted that she couldn't afford new robes of her own. 

* * *

They came out of Gladrags a couple of hours later, with Dawn and Hermione carrying bags with their new robes inside them. They moved down street toward Madam Puddifoot's. 

A man wearing dark robes, with a hood pulled up that made his face hard to see was leaning against the wall. Dawn eyed him a little suspiciously as they passed him. He might have just been wearing the hood for protection from the cold while he waited there for someone, but he seemed to turn his head away, to keep his face hidden as she looked at him. She had thought that all the time she'd spent away from Sunnydale would lower her paranoia levels about strangers who acted furtively, but five months of keeping an eye out for ambushes from Draco Malfoy and his friends had had the opposite effect. She continued down the street, but kept sneaking looks at him, while she pretended to be turning her head to speak with Ginny and Hermione. A few seconds after they passed he stopped leaning against the wall, and followed them down the street. 

Hermione noticed that something was bothering Dawn. "What is it?" 

"Guy in dark robes following us," said Ginny. 

"You noticed him too, eh?" said Dawn. 

"Oh, yeah." 

Dawn glanced around. The street was nearly empty. The only other people near them were a couple more men in dark, hooded robes that were approaching from the opposite direction. If everyone kept moving at the same rate, they'd pass them at the entrance to a narrow alleyway. 

"I think they mean to attack us when we get to the alley," said Dawn. "Three of them, three of us. Think they know what they're up against?" 

"Might be more in the alley," said Hermione. She didn't like what Dawn seemed to be thinking. "We could just avoid them all, by crossing the street." 

"But then we wouldn't know what they were after," said Dawn. 

"And I don't think there's anyone in the alley," said Ginny. She saw Hermione's raised eyebrows. "I can feel magic now. I can feel it from you and Dawn, and from the people around us. I don't feel anything in the alley." 

"We've got about ten more seconds to make up our minds," said Dawn quietly. The man behind them was starting to speed up, to catch up with them when they reached the alley. 

"Let's do it," said Ginny. 

Dawn could see that Hermione still wasn't thrilled with the idea, but she nodded her assent. 

"Okay, Hermione, you're our best magic user," said Dawn. "Leave the physical stuff to Ginny and me." The man behind was getting close enough to overhear her. "And wasn't that red silk robe to die for!" 

They had reached the entrance to the alley. Dawn saw that the two men in front of her seemed to be targeting Hermione and Ginny. She turned her head and saw the man behind them break into a run out of the corner of her eye. He reached out toward her. 

Dawn caught his arm, and twisted; forcing him to spin with her if he didn't want it broken. He was taken completely by surprise as _she_ propelled _him_ into the alley that he had been planning to drag her into. She was mostly paying attention to her assailant, but she heard what sounded like a breaking bone, and a cry of pain from one of the other men, and a hurried "_Expeliarmus!_" followed by a "_Stupefy!_" from Hermione. 

Dawn slammed her guy face first against the wall, and held him there in an arm bar. She took a quick look around. Ginny had hers down on the ground, and his leg was bent at an unnatural angle that told Dawn what she had heard breaking. Hermione was floating an unconscious man into the alley, with a wand in each hand. 

"Hermione, knock out these guys too!" said Dawn. 

Hermione didn't waste any time. She first bent down and placed her wand against the head of the man that Ginny was holding, and hit him with a light _Stupefy_ at point blank range. Then she did the same to the one Dawn was holding. Dawn let his unconscious body fall to the ground. 

"_Now_ what do we do?" asked Ginny. 

"Get Dumbledore," said Hermione. 

"Tie them up, take their wands, and _then_ get Dumbledore," said Dawn. 

"Right." Hermione pointed her wand at the man she'd knocked out. There was a loud _bang_ and ropes snaked from her wand and wound tightly around him. She repeated the spell on both of the other unconscious bodies. 

Dawn started to search the robes of her guy for his wand. "Well, that's a useful spell. Where'd you learn it?" 

"I saw Snape use it on Professor Lupin one time," said Hermione. "Seemed like it would be a good one to learn." She watched Dawn feel inside one of the man's pockets. "Careful! We don't know how they planned to get out of here after they did…whatever they were planning to do. You wouldn't want to grab a portkey by mistake." 

Dawn pulled her hand out quickly. "Right." She switched over to patting down the outsides of his robes, until she felt something that felt like a wand. She pointed at the pocket with her own wand. "_Accio wand!_" There was a ripping of fabric, and the wand flew up into the air. Dawn caught it. She saw that Ginny had retrieved the wand from her guy too. "Okay, how do we get Dumbledore?" 

"Easy," said Hermione. She took a small notebook out of a robe pocket, and her quill. She wrote a quick note in it, ripped the page from the book, and folded it into a paper airplane. She pointed her wand at it. "_Advolatus Dumbledore!_" The paper airplane took off, arching up out of the alley, and disappearing in the direction of the castle. 

"Now what do we do?" asked Ginny. 

"Um, the guys are still expecting us for tea," said Dawn. 

Hermione pointed to the bodies on the ground. "What? Just leave them here?" 

"I was thinking more along the lines of you sending them one of your paper airplanes too," said Dawn. 

"Oh. Right." Hermione started to write a second note. 


	48. Interrogations

Harry, Ron and Dean arrived in the alley only a few seconds ahead of Professors Dumbledore and Lupin. Dawn, Hermione and Ginny had just started to tell the boys what had happened, when they had to stop, and start all over for the professors. They gave them all a jumbled and confused account of the events, each of them interrupting the others to add details, or to give their own interpretation of what had happened. 

After a couple of minutes, Dumbledore held up his hands in surrender. "All right, all right! I think I understand. Now, let's just see who we have here." He turned toward the three unconscious bodies laid out in a row on the ground. 

Hermione pointed to the man whose leg Ginny had broken. "That's Mr. Crabbe. I've seen him before, a couple of times." 

"And he's a Death Eater," said Harry. "Even if the Ministry _still_ doesn't believe me." 

Professor Lupin pointed to the one Dawn had taken out. "Rastaban Lestrange. He's one of the ones who broke out of Azkaban last year." 

"Yes," said Dumbledore. He looked carefully at the third man. "I don't recognise him though." He looked back at the girls. "Have you searched them?" 

"Just to take their wands," said Hermione. "We didn't want to accidentally grab a portkey, or something like that." 

"Quite right," said Dumbledore. He took out his wand and passed it over Lestrange. "_Detego!_" Golden light emanated from his wand. It settled over the body, and flowed over his robes. It concentrated into two places, one a breast pocket, and the other at the hip. 

Dumbledore knelt beside Lestrange. "Let's see what we have." He carefully opened the breast pocket and removed something from it. He glanced at it briefly, and then handed it to Professor Lupin. He glanced at it too, before quickly putting it into his own pocket before any of the others could get a good look at it. Dawn thought it might be a photograph. 

Dumbledore used his wand to withdraw the item from the hip pocket without touching it. Dawn saw what looked like an old pocket watch. It floated up into the air and slowly rotated, while Dumbledore examined it carefully. "Yes, a portkey. Activated by pulling the stem, not by touch." He plucked it out of the air, and handed it to Professor Lupin too. 

Professor Dumbledore's search of the other two found a few more magical items, all of which Professor Lupin took charge of, but nothing of real interest. When he was done, Dumbledore stood up again. "Well, I think now it's time to gather everything up, and go back to the school." He pointed to a Gladrags' bag lying in a puddle on the ground. "I believe you will want that, Miss Summers." 

"Oh! My new robes!" Dawn quickly snatched the bag up out of the puddle. She looked inside it, and then reached in to feel for moisture. "Oh thank god! They're okay." 

"You get attacked by Death Eaters, and you worry about your new robes?" asked Dean. 

Dawn waved dismissively at the three Death Eaters on the ground. "They were no worry. It isn't even Tuesday." 

Ron looked at Harry. "Do you understand that?" 

Harry shrugged. "Haven't got a clue." 

* * *

A small crowd had gathered by the entrance to the alley. Professors Dumbledore and Lupin's arrival had not gone unnoticed, and people had started to come to see what was happening. One person hung back, on the other side of the street, watching; protected by a charm that made people ignore him. Draco Malfoy watched as Professor Dumbledore asked the crowd to disperse, and then he watched Professor Lupin float the three unconscious and bound men out of the alley, and away toward the school. He watched as Professor Dumbledore escorted the six Gryffindor students after them. 

He saw Ginny Weasley suddenly look around. Her eyes seemed to be searching for something, as if she knew she was being watched. He quickly turned away, and started to walk in the opposite direction. His charm wouldn't protect him from someone actively looking for him. He had a message to send, anyway. 

* * *

"What is it?" Dawn asked quietly. 

"Malfoy," said Ginny. "He was watching us, and trying _not_ to be noticed while he was doing it." 

Dawn looked in the direction Ginny had been looking, and saw Malfoy's back as he walked away down the street. He was conspicuous because he was the _only_ person in town who didn't seem to be watching the strange procession moving back toward the school. 

"So, is he just being Malfoy, or do you think he's involved in this?" asked Dawn. 

"Being Malfoy would mean that he _is_ involved," said Ron. 

* * *

Dumbledore paused when they got to the castle. He asked one of the students who had followed them curiously to go find Madam Pomfrey, and ask that she come to his office. He looked over Dawn and her friends, as if wondering what to do with them. He only wondered for about a second. "I guess it is pointless to try to keep this a secret from any of you. Come along." He took everyone to his office, including Professor Lupin, and the three prisoners. Two more people were waiting there. One of them was Nymphadora Tonks. 

"Ah, Kingsley, you got my message I see," said Dumbledore to the other wizard waiting there. 

"Yes Professor," said the wizard. "I see you've captured one of our fugitives." 

Dumbledore conjured up chairs for everyone. The ones for the prisoners had additional restraints that wrapped around them as their unconscious bodies were placed in them. "_I_ didn't capture anyone. We have these young women to thank for that. I believe you have already met most of these students, except for Miss Dawn Summers, and Mr. Dean Thomas. Dawn and Dean, I would like to present Senior Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt." 

Madam Pomfrey arrived before Dumbledore could say anymore. He asked her to fix Crabbe's broken leg. "No point in subjecting him to any more pain after we wake him up." 

Madam Pomfrey fixed Crabbe's leg quickly and efficiently. Professor Dumbledore asked her to leave when she was done. He looked to Hermione. "Now, Miss Granger, if you please. Could you repeat for us what happened." He gave Dawn and Ginny a sharp look. "Without interruptions." 

Dawn had to bite her tongue a couple of times to keep from jumping into Hermione's account of the events in the alley, but she managed to keep quiet. Shacklebolt looked at Dawn and Ginny when Hermione was done. "And you agree that that was an accurate account of events?" 

"Uh-huh." "Yeah, pretty much." said Dawn and Ginny. 

"Nothing to add?" 

"Nope." "Uh-uh." 

"So, what were they after?" asked Tonks. 

Dumbledore glanced at Professor Lupin for a moment. "Well, we do have a bit of an idea about that." 

"What was that photo you took from Lestrange?" asked Dawn. 

"I was afraid you noticed that," said Dumbledore. He indicated to Lupin that he should give Dawn the picture. Lupin didn't look happy about the order, but he did as Dumbledore wanted. He pulled the picture out of his pocket, and handed it to Dawn. 

"It's me," said Dawn. She looked at the wizard photograph, taken of her in one of Hogwarts' hallways. 

"Do you remember that picture being taken?" asked Dumbledore. 

Dawn thought for a moment. "Nope. Don't have a clue when, or by who." 

Harry was looking over Dawn's shoulder. "It was taken after Christmas." 

Dawn looked around at him. "How'd you know that?" 

Harry smiled. "You're wearing the earrings I gave you." 

Dawn's hand went to her ear. She could feel one of the same earrings there now. "Oh…well that doesn't narrow it down much. I almost always wear them." 

"So, why would they want Dawn?" asked Dean. 

Everyone exchanged a look. "Why don't we ask them?" said Shacklebolt. 

"You expect one of them to just tell you?" asked Dawn. 

"Oh yes," said Shacklebolt. "I expect them all to." He looked at the three unconscious people, and considered for a moment. "We must do this by the book, though." He glanced at the students, and at Professor Lupin. "Which means that no one who isn't a sworn officer of the Wizengamot may be present for the questioning." He looked at Dumbledore. "I assume that there will be no problem getting a warrant from the Chief Warlock of the court?" 

Dumbledore smiled. "No problem at all." He went to his desk and started to write on a fresh sheet of parchment. 

Professor Lupin stood. "I understand." He motioned for the students to stand too. 

Dumbledore looked up from what he was writing. "Thank you Remus. Why don't you take the students, and wait for us in my study." 

"Yes, Professor." Lupin waved toward the stairs leading up behind Dumbledore's desk. "This way." 

Professor Lupin took them into another room, smaller than Dumbledore's office. It's walls were lined with books too, but instead of portraits of past Hogwarts Headmasters, this one was decorated with more personal pictures. Some showed two young men that looked vaguely familiar to Dawn. She thought at first that they might be Dumbledore's sons (not that she had ever heard anyone say anything to indicate that he had any children) but after a moment she realized that one of them was Dumbledore himself, as a young man, which meant that the other one must be his brother. 

Hermione and Professor Lupin both found books, and settled into chairs to read while they waited. Harry, Ron and Dean wanted to hear about the fight with the Death Eaters again, and they were particularly interested in why they seemed to be after Dawn. That was a question that Dawn very much wanted an answer to as well. One question kept repeating itself over and over in her mind: 'Does Voldemort know I'm the Key?' 

* * *

Dumbledore came for them about half an hour later, and took them all back to his office. Shacklebolt, Tonks, and the three prisoners were gone. The Aurors had taken the prisoners away. 

Dawn tried to keep the fear out of her voice. "So, why were they after me?" She didn't entirely succeed. 

Dumbledore glanced around at the others. "We can discuss this privately, if you wish?" 

"No," said Dawn. "I want my friends to know anything Voldemort may know. There's no point keeping them in the dark if he already knows about it." 

Dumbledore nodded. "Very well. Lestrange, Crabbe, and Eugen Rosier—that is the third man's name by the way—were seeking the location of the Key, and they had been told that you, Dawn, were the one most likely to have that knowledge. They planned to hold you, and force you to tell them all you knew about it." 

Dawn sighed in relief. Voldemort still didn't know. "Oh, thank God!" 

Harry looked at Dawn in amazement. He had been watching her slowly build herself into a panic over the last half hour, and now she treats the news that these Death Eaters wanted to question her about the Key with _relief?_ What else could she have been so afraid of? Death Eaters usually _started_ an interrogation with the Cruciatus Curse, and then moved on to other, even more unpleasant things. The 'lucky' victims that survived, often wound up insane. That thought got Harry wondering about just how Dumbledore had extracted this information from the prisoners. "Er, Sir, how do you know…I mean…can you be sure that they told you the truth?" 

"There is no doubt about the truthfulness of what they told us," said Dumbledore. "With clear evidence that they were Death Eaters, we were able to question them using Veritaserum. While there is doubtless much more to their stories than what we got in the short time available to us, I am certain that what they told us of their goal, and their motives was true. A more extensive interrogation will take place at the Ministry, and then all three men will be spending the next several years in Azkaban." 

"Or until Voldemort arranges the next breakout," muttered Ron. 

"Yes, well, hopefully, now that the Dementors have been removed from Azkaban, and the guarding of the prisoners is in the hands of wizards working for the Ministry, that won't happen again," said Dumbledore. 

"Yeah," said Ron, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "'Cause the Ministry is just _full_ of highly reliable wizards." 

"Yes, it is," said Dumbledore. "Don't let some unpleasant experiences with a few bad apples colour your perception of the entire Ministry. There are many excellent people working there. Two of them just left here. Your father is another." 

Ron looked a little embarrassed. "Yes sir." 

Dumbledore smiled at him. "I will admit that some of the bad apples have risen into some very prominent positions in the Ministry in recent years, but for now, I think we can leave your attackers in the hands of the Aurors. I believe that you have a dance to get ready for." 

"Yes, Professor," said Dawn, and several of the others. They started to make their way toward the door. 

"Oh, Miss Summers," said Dumbledore. 

"Yes Professor?" 

"I think it would be best if you not leave the school grounds from now on." 

Dawn sighed in resignation. "Yes sir." 

"Oh," said Dumbledore. "I would also ask you all not to discuss what happened with the other students until I have informed Vincent Crabbe of his father's arrest." 

"Yes, sir," said Harry. 

"Remus?" asked Dumbledore. "Could you please locate Professor Snape, and ask him to bring Mr. Crabbe to my office?" 

"Certainly Professor." Lupin followed his students out of the office. 

* * *

Dawn and Harry danced together. "I like your robes," he told her. 

"Thanks," said Dawn. Her new robes were 'twilight blue': the colour of the evening sky, just as the stars were starting to appear. A faint reddish glow still seemed to emanate from somewhere below the hem, and if you looked carefully, you could see the twinkling of the first stars of the evening. 

"So why aren't you worried?" he asked. 

"Hey…" Dawn twirled Harry to the music. "…someone trying to kidnap me is old news. I've been kidnapped by the world's dumbest vampire, a hellgoddess, and a demon who wanted to take me to hell to be his bride. You know, Voldemort's Death Eaters almost make me feel at home." 

"World's dumbest vampire?" asked Harry. 

"Yeah," said Dawn. "I swear, getting vamped shaves at least twenty points of anyone's IQ, and Harmony wasn't the brightest bulb even when she was alive." 

"You knew her while she was human?" 

"Not so much," said Dawn. "She went to school with Buffy. I only saw her at the mall a couple of times." Dawn thought for a moment. "Come to think of it…that might have been _after_ she became a vamp. I may not have met her before she died." 

"If she was so dumb, how did she manage to kidnap you?" asked Harry. 

"I was fourteen, and even dumber," said Dawn. "Buffy was _so_ mad when she rescued me." 

"So, this Harmony vampire is dead?" 

Dawn paused to think. "Actually, she's still alive…or undead anyway…whatever else you might say about Harmony, she knows when it's time to run away. Last I heard she was working as a secretary at an evil law firm in L.A." 

"We seem to have skipped subjects again," said Harry. "You seemed to be relieved when you heard that the Death Eaters wanted you to ask you where the Key was. Why was that?" 

Dawn considered what to say. "Not here. I'll tell you later. Meet me in the Room of Requirement at midnight." 

"Midnight?" asked Harry. Dawn could hear the hopeful tone in his voice. 

"To talk," said Dawn. "Just talk." 

Harry held Dawn in his arms as they continued to dance. The way she snuggled up against him made him hope that they might do more than talk. 


	49. The Truth Comes Out

Harry pulled an aged piece of parchment out of his trunk and unfolded it. He touched his wand to it. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." He watched the map of Hogwarts appear on it. 

"What are you up to?" asked Ron. 

"I'm going to meet Dawn in the Room of Requirement." 

"Ooo! Midnight meeting with your girlfriend! Good luck mate!" 

Harry scowled at Ron. "It's not that sort of meeting." He went back to examining the Marauder's Map. The seventh floor was clear. All the students were in their dorm rooms, Filch was patrolling the fifth floor. He saw a black dot, labeled 'Dawn Summers' leave the girls' dorm rooms. "Gotta go." 

Harry caught up with Dawn in the hallway. She was moving cautiously, watching for anyone who might catch her out after curfew. "Hey, wait up!" 

"Shh!" said Dawn. 

"It's okay." Harry waved the Marauder's Map. "No one's nearby." 

"What's that?" 

"Magic map of the castle," said Harry. "It shows where everyone is inside it." 

"Cool," said Dawn. "Can I see?" 

"Sure." Harry handed her the map. He pointed to the two dots in the seventh floor corridor. "See, there we are." 

"Huh. Neat." Dawn kept looking over the map, checking to see if there was anyone else nearby. Other than a couple of people in the Ravenclaw common room, there was no one else on the seventh floor. She saw Filch's dot moving down from the fifth to the fourth floor. 

"So, er, we were going to talk?" asked Harry. 

"Right," said Dawn. She moved quickly down the hall toward the Room of Requirement. She started to pace back and forth between the vase and the window, thinking about needing a nice little room for a private chat. The door appeared in the wall. She opened it and stepped into the room on the other side. 

It was small, and comfortably appointed. Quite cozy really, with a nice love seat set in front of a crackling fire. There was one other piece of furniture in the room: a standard Hogwarts four poster bed. Dawn looked at Harry. "What were you thinking?" 

"Er, I was up late last night, working on my Potions homework, and then we got up early this morning, and I'm really sleepy now?" Harry put his hand over his mouth to cover a yawn. 

"Good answer." Dawn sat on one end of the love seat. "Sit down, I've got something important to tell you." 

Harry sat down beside her. "Okay, what is it?" 

"The reason I was afraid that the Death Eaters were after me." 

"Right. The thing that's _worse_ than them wanting to torture you for information about the Key." 

"Uh-huh," said Dawn. "And you have to promise me not to tell anyone about this, not even Ron or Hermione." 

"Er, Ron knows I'm meeting you here. He's going to ask about it." 

"Tell him we were making out. This is important Harry. If you really feel like you have to talk to someone other than me, you can talk to Professor Dumbledore, he knows all about it, but I want your word not to talk about this with anyone else." 

"Okay," said Harry. "I promise." 

"I'm the Key." 

"_What?_" 

"The Key is me." 

"But the Key is thousands of years old!" said Harry. "And you're seventeen!" 

"I know," said Dawn. "It's actually even weirder than that, but the short version is that three years ago the Monks of Dagon needed a place to hide the Key, and keep it protected, so they put it into the Slayer's sister. So now I'm the Key." 

"So that's why you were afraid they were after you," said Harry. "You were afraid that they knew." 

"Yeah, and that's why you can't tell anyone about this. Anyone who knows about the Key can become a target." 

"So, it's okay for me to be a target?" asked Harry with a grin. 

Dawn smiled at him. "Voldemort's already targeting you, remember? Maybe if he finds out that you know about the Key, it won't be in a 'kill on sight' kinda way." 

"So, isn't there any way to take the Key out of you?" asked Harry. 

"Not that we know of," said Dawn. "At least not without killing me. If I die, the Key will be released, but that's the only way we know of." 

"That's got to suck," said Harry. 

"Yeah, sometimes it sucks a lot," said Dawn. "But in other ways it's nice too. I hang around with so many special people: Slayers, witches, vampires…it's nice to be special too." 

"But you're a witch too," said Harry. 

"According to Professor Dumbledore, it's having the Key that makes me a witch," said Dawn. "It's what gives me my magical power." 

"Can you do anything else with it?" asked Harry. "You know…other than regular magic?" 

"I don't know," said Dawn. "Other than being able to destroy the universe once every thousand years we haven't found much. Buffy brought me a book that has some stuff about what the Key can do in it, but it's pretty tough slogging, and I'm not sure how to adapt what it says about using the Key to doing it myself, with the Key inside me." 

"Destroy the universe?" asked Harry. "Is that why Voldemort wants it?" 

"Not unless he's willing to wait nine hundred and ninety-seven years before he tries it." 

"I don't think he's that patient." 

"Neither do I." 

"And he wants to rule the world, not destroy it." Harry paused to think for a bit. "So why does he want it?" 

"The Key seems to be mostly useful for opening portals. It can open portals between dimensions, or across space and time." 

"Time?" asked Harry. 

"Yeah," said Dawn. "Willow thinks it may be possible to create a portal that can pull something out of the past, or send something into the future. She doesn't think it's possible to go the other way. Sending stuff backwards in time violates causality or something like that." 

"But you can go back in time with a Time-Turner," said Harry. 

"What's that?" 

"It's something Hermione had a few years ago, to let her take extra classes. It let her be in two places at once. We also used it to go back in time three hours so we could save Sirius and Buckbeak from the Ministry." 

"Huh," said Dawn. "I guess Willow must be wrong about that one." 

"Professor Dumbledore warned us to be really careful with it," said Harry. "Arranged things so we wouldn't run into ourselves, or anyone else. People meeting themselves is supposed to have resulted in some really awful things happening." 

"I guess that could be pretty freaky." 

"Okay, so you're the Key, and you're not really sure what you do, or how you do it," said Harry. 

"That about sums it up…plus you can't tell anyone about it." 

"I'm a terrible liar." Harry smiled at her. "If I'm supposed to tell Ron I was making out with you in here, maybe we should make it so I don't have to lie about that." 

Dawn slid herself closer to Harry and kissed him. "Mmm, good idea. I don't want to have to lie to Hermione and Ginny either." Their arms went around each other. 

* * *

Hermione and Ginny were asleep when Dawn got back to their room. Something that Dawn was very thankful for. She didn't want to explain how her clothes and her hair got into such a disarranged state. She slipped quietly into their bathroom to get ready to go to bed herself. 

When she emerged from the bathroom she saw that the candles had lit, and both Hermione and Ginny were sitting up in their beds. They were looking at her expectantly. Dawn just looked back. 

"Well?" asked Hermione. 

"Well what?" asked Dawn. 

"Well, how'd it go with Harry?" asked Ginny. "We want to hear _everything!_" 

"We weren't doing anything," said Dawn. 

"You weren't doing anything until nearly three in the morning," said Hermione. "That's a lot of not doing anything." 

"Oh gosh, is it that late?" Dawn stifled a yawn. "I need to get to bed." 

"Not until we get the scoop on what you were doing with Harry." 

"Okay, we spent the last couple of hours making wild passionate love with each other," said Dawn. "Happy now?" 

Ginny looked shocked. "You didn't!" 

Dawn grinned. "No, we didn't. A lot of kissing and groping, but no actual lovemaking." 

"So…do I need to tell you about the birds and the bees?" asked Hermione. 

"No," said Dawn. "Muggles know all about that stuff too. Where do you think little Muggles come from?" 

"Umm…Madam Pomfrey teaches a class to the third year girls…about how _not_ to have any…surprise little witches or wizards," said Hermione. "Did anyone mention that to you during your catchup?" 

"Uh…no," said Dawn. "That seems to be one that got skipped." 

"Maybe you should go have a talk with her," said Hermione. "Before you go doing anything…irrevocable. Magical contraception is much more convenient than the Muggle methods." 

"You know about those?" asked Dawn. 

Hermione grinned. "Mum gave me the Talk when I was twelve, and she found out that my two best friends were both boys. Of course, I'd already read all about it." 

* * *

Harry and Dawn sat facing each other on the floor in Ginny's training room. They had moved their meditation sessions to here, after Harry started to work on wandless magic. Professor Dumbledore didn't want anyone outside of Harry's closest friends knowing about that yet, so he couldn't do it in the common room. 

Nearly all of Harry's attention was focused on the feather on the floor between them, and the slight currents of magic he was starting to feel around him. He had managed to float the feather a couple of times in the last few weeks, but it always seemed to happen almost by accident. He didn't know how he had done it. It had just happened. Professor Dumbledore wasn't discouraged in the least by Harry's apparently slow progress. He reminded Harry that it had taken Willow—the most powerful practitioner of this sort of magic that the world had seen for over a century—months to develop the ability to levitate small objects reliably. 

Dawn's attention was focused inward, trying to feel the energy of the Key. She had to feel it in order to use it. So far she hadn't had much luck, and was half convinced that the stirrings of power she sometimes felt within her were just her imagination. 

Harry was aware of glowing concentrations in the power he felt around him. He knew that the brightest one was Ginny. The Slayer power within her, combined with her own innate magic formed a bright golden light to his inner eye. He could sense it dancing on the other side of the room, as she went through her workout with Ron and Hermione, and Professor Lupin looked on. He could see the glows from their magic too, not quite as bright as Ginny's, more reddish. He could see the same reddish glow coming from within himself. His attention moved farther out, beyond the walls of the Room of Requirement. He could see the glows of the other students, and teachers, ranging from dim embers to bright flames. 

Harry pulled his focus back to the Room of Requirement, to the glow right in front of him. Dawn's glow was nearly as bright as Ginny's, but it was a different colour. Dawn's was green. 

Dawn felt the power within her. She tried to concentrate on it, but it eluded her, always seeming to slip away when she tried to look at it directly. It seemed to float off to the edge of her peripheral vision. 

Harry could see Dawn's glow flickering, flaring for a moment before it faded away. He wanted to nurture it, make it brighter. He reached out toward it. 

Dawn felt a surge of power flow from her. 

Dawn's glow suddenly flared to an unimaginable brilliance, so bright it was nearly painful for Harry's inner eye to look on it. He had to do something to protect himself from it. He reacted by instinct, gathering and channelling that power into the feather he had been trying to levitate. 

It sounded to Ginny like a bolt of lightning had struck inside the room. It was too loud, and the flash was too bright to really tell what direction it had come from. She dropped, and spun toward the surge of power that she had also felt, looking for the source of the attack. She saw that Harry and Dawn were both knocked onto their backs, and there was a black hole about a foot across burnt into the matt between where they had been sitting a second earlier. 

Ron, Hermione and Lupin all had their wands out, and their eyes were searching for the threat too. The only thing they could see that didn't belong in the room was the smoldering hole in the floor matt. They all started to rush toward Harry and Dawn. 

Harry and Dawn were pushing themselves back up off the floor. "Oops," said Harry. He could barely hear himself over the ringing in his ears. 

"Oops?" asked Ron. "You did that?" 

Dawn looked up at him. "What did you say? Speak up!" 

Harry looked at Dawn. "Huh?" 

"_I said 'speak up'!_" Dawn nearly shouted at him. 

"_Yeah, well you too!_" Harry shouted back. 

"Are you two all right?" asked Professor Lupin. 

"_What?_" asked Dawn. "_I can't hear you over this ringing in my ears!_" 

"_Are! You! All! Right?_" asked Lupin again, enunciating each word clearly. 

"_Yeah, except for this ringing in my ears!_" said Harry. 

Professor Lupin sighed. "I think we better have Madam Pomfrey check their ears," he told the others. 

"_What?_" asked Dawn. 

Professor Lupin gestured toward the door. "_Madam Pomfrey!_" 

"_Yeah!_" said Harry. "_I think maybe she should check my ears!_" 

* * *

They were all back in the Room of Requirement half an hour later. Madam Pomfrey had put some sort of drops into Harry and Dawn's ears—they hadn't heard what she called them—and the worst of the ringing had gone away almost immediately. 

Lupin looked over his students. "So, now can you tell us what happened?" 

Harry and Dawn exchanged a look. "Well," said Harry, "I was trying to levitate the feather again, and suddenly there was this huge burst of power from something, and I had to do something with it, so I guess I guided it all into the feather, and then…kaboom." 

"Do you know where the power came from?" asked Lupin. 

Harry and Dawn exchanged another look. "No idea," said Harry. 

Ginny frowned. She'd felt that surge, and it had a feel to it that she recognised. She hadn't mentioned it to anyone, but there was a different sort of feel that she got from Dawn than from anyone else, and that surge had been Dawn's power. She could see that Harry and Dawn both knew it too, but for some reason they wanted to keep it a secret from the others. 

* * *

Hermione lay back against Ron's chest in a quiet corner of the Gryffindor common room, enjoying the warmth of his arms around her. 

"There's something going on between Harry and Dawn," he said suddenly. 

Hermione nearly giggled. "Well, yeah. You just notice that?" 

"He won't talk about it with me." 

"Just means he's a gentleman," said Hermione. "Gentlemen don't kiss and tell." She looked around and frowned at him. "You don't tell him about everything we do, do you?" 

"No! I'm not talking about that!" said Ron. "There's something _else_ going on between them." 

"You sure you aren't just a little jealous, because he's spending time with her, instead of you?" 

"No! There's something up between them that they aren't telling us about." 

"'Cause, you know, I think that this whole thing between us might be a bit awkward if Harry _didn't_ have a girlfriend." 

"I'm not talking about that!" said Ron. "I think they know a lot more about what caused that explosion than they're saying." 

"Well, she does have a lot of experience with that sort of magic," said Hermione. 

"There's something else," said Ron. "Something they're keeping from us, like why Dawn went with Harry for his Occlumency lesson this afternoon." 

"Maybe…but they might have a good reason for keeping it from us, and whatever it is, it seems that Professor Dumbledore is in on it." 

"Like Dumbledore's little secrets have never caused us trouble before," said Ron. 


	50. Unlocking the Gates

"…and then, _poof_, no feather!" said Dawn. "And there was a hole in the floor." 

"More like a _BANG!_" said Harry. "My ears are still ringing a bit." 

"Most interesting," said Professor Dumbledore. "What did you sense, Harry?" 

"There was this sudden surge in Dawn's power," said Harry. "It wasn't like anything I'd ever felt before. I mean, when I meditate now, I can feel the power all around me—everyone has their own glow—but Dawn's feels…different." 

"And you drew on that power?" asked Dumbledore. 

"I didn't mean to," said Harry. "It was just so…bright. I had to do something to shield myself from it, so I channeled it all into the feather." 

"And _boom!_" said Dawn. 

"Did you feel Harry drawing the power from you?" asked Dumbledore. 

Dawn thought for a moment, trying to remember what she had felt in that moment. "No… It felt like I was drawing power from somewhere…and then it was just…gone." 

"Hmm…" Dumbledore thought for a bit. "I was planning on showing you this later, but…" He rose from his seat behind his desk, and went to his cupboard. He opened it, and pulled out his Pensieve. He brought it back and set it on his desk. 

"What's that?" asked Dawn. She looked curiously at the mist swirling inside the stone bowl. 

"It is called a Pensieve," said Professor Dumbledore. "It contains memories. At the moment it contains several memories that Miss Rosenberg let me borrow, for the purpose of teaching Harry how to control his magic." 

Dumbledore started to stir around in the Pensieve with his wand. "Now, where was that memory? Ah, here it is!" He pulled his wand free, with a wisp of mist hanging off the end of it. "This is one of Willow's cautionary memories. Now, Harry, I want you to clear your mind…" 

* * *

Harry sat in the center of the floor in a darkened room, surrounded by a circle of green sand. He was aware of the people behind him, Kennedy was climbing back to her feet after the last blast of power that had burst from him. He could sense that Dawn was still unconscious from it. 

"_Via, concursus, tempus, spatium, audi me ut imperio… **Screw it!**_" shouted Harry into the empty air above him. "_Mighty forces, I suck at Latin, okay? But that's not the issue! I'm the one in charge, and I'm telling you: open that portal **now!**_" 

"It's not happening, Will," said Xander. 

"Give her time," said Kennedy. "She's getting it." 

"Or something's getting her," said Xander. "Will, I think you better back up a little." 

"_No!_" Harry knew he was close. He just needed a little more power. He reached out with his mind, seeking what he needed. There was almost no magic in Xander, and Dawn was unconscious. He could feel the potential power of the Slayer burning in Kennedy, and the latent demon in Anya. He flung his hands back toward them, and ripped the power he needed out of both of them. He channeled it into the air in front of him. The portal opened as they collapsed to the floor. 

_[Note: This scene was adapted from the Buffy episode Get it Done]_

* * *

"Oh!" Harry slumped in the chair and grabbed his head when Professor Dumbledore pulled the memory out of his head. "That was… God, what a headache." 

Dumbledore looked sympathetic, and picked up a bowl from his desk. He held it out to Harry. "Lemon sherbet?" 

Harry shook his head, and instantly regretted the sudden motion. "Oh…no thank you, Professor." 

"You really should," said the Professor. "It will help with your headache." 

"Alright." Harry took one of the candies, and popped it into his mouth. He felt something soothing pass through him, and his headache did fade to a dull throb. "What was that?" 

"You tell us," said Professor Dumbledore. 

"Er, alright." Harry concentrated for a moment, bringing back the memory. "I— No, _Willow_, was trying to open a portal, and she needed more power, so I—_she_ just ripped it out of Kennedy and er…I think her name was Anya?" He looked at Dawn, and saw the unhappy expression on her face. "I'm sorry, I—she hurt you." 

"What?" asked Dawn. "No! It's not that! I mean, yeah Willow did hurt me a bit, but she was doing it to save Buffy, and the blast that knocked me out was just a side effect, not a deliberate power suck like she did on Kennedy and Anya. It's just…Anya. She didn't make it. She was killed in the fight with the First." 

"Oh," said Harry. "I'm sorry." 

"It's okay," said Dawn. "And it wasn't you who did that, it was Willow." She looked at Professor Dumbledore. "So why did you show him _that_ memory?" 

"Earlier today, when you pulled the power from Dawn, did it feel like what Willow did that time?" Dumbledore asked Harry. 

"No, it was different," said Harry. "The power was bursting out of Dawn already. I just grabbed onto it. That other time, I— Willow reached into Kennedy and Anya, and _ripped_ it out of them." 

"Interesting." Dumbledore turned his attention back to Dawn. "Do you know what you did to release that power?" 

"Not really," said Dawn. "I was trying to focus on it, and it kept slipping away, and then, suddenly, _whoosh!_" 

"Er, I might have had something to do with that," said Harry. 

"What do you mean?" asked Dawn. 

"Well…I could sense it," said Harry. "It was flickering there inside you, and I wanted to encourage it, so I reached out…and wham!" 

"Hmm," said Dumbledore. "I wonder if we can reproduce that." 

Harry looked at the floor. "Er…how much do you like this rug?" 

Dumbledore chuckled. "It is long overdue for replacement, but I hope to avoid that. I want to see what happens if we just let the energy from the Key umm, do its own thing?" 

"That may not be such a good idea," said Dawn. "Last time the energy from the Key got released they had to fill a twenty foot wide crater in the middle of Sunnydale's main street, and rebuild City Hall. They were just about ready for the grand reopening, when the city fell into the Hellmouth." 

"Hopefully we can avoid that too," said Professor Dumbledore. "If I understand correctly the circumstances surrounding that incident were rather special." 

"Uh, yeah, once in a thousand years, and I had to bleed into a spot a hundred feet off the ground." 

Dumbledore smiled. "I hope that there will be no bleeding involved this time." 

"Me too," said Dawn. "I'd hate to have to ask Buffy to kick your ass." 

"Yes, I would hate that too." Dumbledore gestured with his wand and a couple of cushions appeared. "I believe you prefer to do this sitting on the floor." 

"Uh, yeah," said Dawn. She looked at Harry. "So, shall we?" 

Harry sighed. "I guess." 

Dawn and Harry sat facing each other on the cushions, with their legs crossed. They both started their breathing exercise, with their inhalations and exhalations synchronised. Dumbledore moved back to his desk chair, and sat down to wait. 

Dumbledore watched Dawn and Harry carefully. He could see the slight glimmer in her that he had seen that day in the Leaky Cauldron, that he had seen once before, fifty years earlier during a journey through Czechoslovakia. He knew that those blessed with second sight, or mad men could see the Key. He sometimes wondered which category he fell into. Many had accused him of both over the years. He himself wasn't sure. Sometimes he just _knew_ things. When Severus Snape had come to him all those years ago, to renounce his allegiance to Voldemort, and to volunteer his services as a spy in the enemy's camp, Dumbledore had just _known_ he was telling the truth, and that he could be trusted. Many had called him mad at the time. Years later, people had called him mad for letting a small band of eleven year old children go against Voldemort, but he had known that it was the right thing to do. And now he sat and watched as two young people attempted to release a power that could destroy worlds—in his office. It seemed mad, but he knew that it was the right thing to do. 

He could also feel the fluctuations of magic around Harry. He had studied magic in all its forms for nearly a century and a half, and he was one of only a half dozen or so wizards who could feel the magic that Harry was manipulating. It had taken him many decades, studying with wiccans like Amelia Harkness, and Willow Rosenberg, and already Harry had better control over the ancient magic than he ever expected to have. He had been quite amazed by what he had felt when he experienced Miss Rosenberg's memories. _Her_ power was breathtaking. 

Dumbledore was brought out of his reverie when he saw a stirring in the Key. He leaned forward, his eyes narrowing. He felt the magic around Harry strengthen, and wrap around Dawn too. The Key flared, and Dumbledore didn't need his inner eye to see it anymore. Dawn was bathed in emerald light. A pinprick of light appeared, at about eye level midway between her and Harry. It grew slowly, until it was about the size of a baseball. It floated in the air between them. 

Harry opened his eyes first, and looked at the glowing sphere in front of him. "Brilliant!" 

"Yes, it is, rather," said Dumbledore. 

Dawn opened her eyes. The green glow around her faded, but the sphere stayed where it was. "What is it?" Tiny crackles of lighting flashed around it. 

"I believe, Miss Summers, that that is a portal." 

"A portal to where?" 

"An excellent question." Professor Dumbledore got up from his desk. He picked up his peacock quill and came around it. He bent down for a closer look. 

"Um…touching portals often leads to badness," said Dawn. 

"Yes, I am aware of that." Dumbledore poked at the glowing sphere with the feather end of his quill. 

A flash of lightning ignited the feather. Professor Dumbledore dropped it to the floor, and extinguished it with his foot. There was another loud _crack_ and the sphere vanished. 

"So, what just happened?" asked Harry. 

"I think that Miss Summers opened up a portal to…somewhere," said Dumbledore. 

"It doesn't seem to be very useful…" Dawn looked down at the scorched peacock quill on the floor. "…unless you don't like feathers. It certainly wasn't big enough to go through." 

"Well, yes, I think it will take some time for you to get more control over it," said Dumbledore. "None the less, this was an excellent beginning." 


	51. Kidnapped!

Dawn set off for her afternoon jog. The warm spring weather had melted the last of the snow away, buds were appearing on the branches of the trees, birds were singing. It was an all round beautiful day. She had spent much of the winter doing her jogging indoors. Running up and down the many stairways and corridors inside the castle had certainly given her a good workout, but she was glad for the return of the warm weather that let her out into the fresh air. 

It was a little warmer than even she had expected, and half a mile into her run she took off the sweatshirt she was wearing over her t-shirt, and knotted its arms around her hips before continuing. 

* * *

Harry looked toward the stands and frowned. Dawn still wasn't there. She nearly always came here to watch the end of their Quidditch practice at the end of her runs. He shrugged to himself. No doubt she had gone off to the library, or something to do some more research on the Key, or there was that essay that they had to do for Professor Snape. He grimaced at the thought. It was due tomorrow, and he hadn't even gotten started on it yet. That's probably what she was doing. He'd see her at dinner. 

* * *

"Have you seen Dawn?" Harry asked Hermione as they sat down at the Gryffindor table. 

"Not since she left for her run." 

Harry looked across the hall to the Slytherin table. "Blaise is here, so I doubt if she's working on her Potions assignment." He looked around the table. "Has anyone seen Dawn?" he asked. 

There was a general chorus of 'No's and head shakes from everyone around him. Harry got up again. "I'll be back in a bit." 

Harry ran up the stairs to Gryffindor tower. "_Dawn!_" he called as he entered the common room. He didn't get any answer. He went to the stairway that led to the girls' rooms. "_Dawn, are you up there?_" he shouted. He still didn't get an answer. He was starting to have a very bad feeling about this. He ran up to his room, and pulled the Marauder's Map out of his trunk. 

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he said as he touched his wand to the map. He started to search it for Dawn's name. 

It didn't take long. Nearly everyone was in the Great Hall for dinner. He scanned over every floor looking for her name. It was nowhere to be found. 

Harry ran back into the Great Hall. He looked toward his friends at the Gryffindor table, and saw that there were still two empty seats there. Ron met his gaze and answered his silent question with a shrug. Harry ran to the high table. 

"What is it Harry?" asked Professor Dumbledore. 

"It's Dawn," said Harry breathlessly. "She's missing." 

"Are you sure?" 

Harry put the Marauder's Map down on the table in front of him. "See for yourself! She's nowhere in the school!" 

* * *

Dawn groaned and lifted her hand to her aching head. The last thing she remembered she was running along the path by the Forbidden Forest. Now she was lying on something hard, and she was aware of a flickering light through her closed eyelids. She was also cold. She had been sweating from her jog, and now she was lying somewhere in a dank dungeon; shivering from the cold sweat still clinging to her skin. Dawn didn't have to open her eyes to know she was in some sort of dungeon. The musty smell, and the dank feel to the air were enough to convince her of that, but she still felt that it would be best to open her eyes and confirm it. 

She cracked her eyes open. "Yep, it's a dungeon," she told herself. The stone walls around her were stained by seeping water. The flickering light was coming from a torch. A torch that was on the _other_ side of a barred door. Dawn was in a cell barely six feet on a side. 

"Well, well, well," said a voice from somewhere outside her cage. "The mudblood is finally awake." 

Dawn considered pretending that she was still unconscious, but decided that she had already given herself away, so she sat up instead. This almost had the effect of knocking her out again. Her head swam for several seconds from the change in position. She rubbed her temples with her fingers. "Ow! Have you got any Aspirin?" 

"Shut up, mudblood," said the voice. "The only thing I want to hear from you is the location of the Key!" 

Dawn looked up through the bars. She was sitting on the cold stone floor of the cell. She could see someone standing outside in black hooded robes, his face covered by a mask. She felt it was probably best to play stupid. "What key? I don't know anything about any keys." 

A crystal sphere in the man's hand flashed red. He held it out toward her. "Don't bother lying, mudblood. The Veriloquus Sphere knows when you lie!" 

"You are the ugliest wizard in the world!" Dawn sniffed at the air. "And you stink too!" The sphere in his hand glowed green. "Huh, I guess it can recognise the truth when it hears it." 

The Death Eater snarled and raised his wand. Dawn started to think that maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to make that crack. "_Crucio!_" 

* * *

Ginny was a little out of breath when she arrived in Dumbledore's office. She had run all the way back from Gryffindor tower. Dumbledore and Lupin were there, along with Harry, Ron and Hermione. "Dawn must have her phone with her," she said while panting for breath. "I sent an email to Buffy, and copies to Willow and Mr. Giles. One of them should get it soon." 

"Thank you, Ginny," said Dumbledore. 

"What now?" asked Harry. "We have to find her!" 

"We are endeavouring to do so," said Dumbledore calmly. He looked toward the entrance to his office. 

Hagrid was filling the door. "Yer wanted ta see me, Professor?" 

"Yes, Hagrid. I understand that Miss Summers often stops to chat with you on her runs." 

"That she do, Professor." 

"Did you speak to her today?" 

"No Professor, she didn't," said Hagrid. "Little Trei was rather disappointed." 

Dumbledore conjured up a map of the Hogwarts grounds in the air in front of him. He started to draw on it with the tip of his wand. "She was seen leaving the castle, and several people observed her as she was running beside the lake. She was last seen here." He drew a red 'X' near the southern end of the lake, near the narrow fringe of trees that separated the castle grounds from the rail line. "She never reached Hagrid's hut." He drew another 'X' on it. "That means she disappeared somewhere along here." He swept a line along the southern border of the grounds, and up along the edge of the Forbidden Forest, to Hagrid's hut. "Most likely about here." He drew another 'X' in the southeastern corner of the grounds. 

"Why there?" asked Ron. 

"There's a bit o' a dip there," said Hagrid. "It's hidden from the castle. No one would be able to see anythin' from here." 

"Yes," said Dumbledore. "Hagrid, I want you to start there, and search northward, toward your hut. I want you to look for any sign of Miss Summers, or anyone who may have been lurking there to ambush her." 

"Yes, Professor." Hagrid ducked his head, and quickly left the office. 

Dumbledore turned to Professor Lupin. "Remus, I want you to go to London. Talk with Kingsley. Find out everything he knows about possible places where Death Eaters may be holding Miss Summers. Find out anything new he may have learned from the men who tried to kidnap her last month." 

* * *

Dawn screamed from the pain coursing through her body. It was worse than anything she had ever imagined, like her bones were on fire, and thousands of hornets were stinging her skin. She couldn't think of anything but the pain. Part of her knew that it had only been a few seconds, but she couldn't remember a time when she wasn't in pain. 

It stopped as suddenly as it had started. She was lying in the floor in her cell, trembling uncontrollably. She couldn't control her muscles. 

"Where is the Key?" asked the Death Eater outside her cell. 

"F-f-f-fuck you!" 

He raised his wand again. "_Crucio!_" 

* * *

"What can we do, Professor?" asked Harry. 

"I'm afraid that there is little we can do right now, Harry." 

"I have to do _something!_" Harry nearly shouted. "Help Hagrid at least." 

Dumbledore shook his head. "No, Harry. The centaurs barely tolerate Hagrid in the forest these days. I can not risk you there." 

"You think that the centaurs may have had something to do with this?" asked Ron. 

"No," said Dumbledore. "If Miss Summers had ventured into the forest, I do not doubt that they would have chased her out, but they wouldn't harm her, and they wouldn't come out onto the school grounds." 

"But we can't just stand here," said Ron. 

Dumbledore thought for a bit. "Very well. It is less likely, but we should cover all the possibilities." He pointed to his map again. "I want you to search this area here, from where Hagrid is starting, west toward where Dawn was last seen by the lake. Whatever you do, _stay out of the forest!_" 

Harry, Ron Hermione and Ginny all started toward the door. They heard a loud crack behind them and spun around again. Harry, Ron and Hermione all drew their wands. Ginny drew a long knife…not quite a sword. Ron relaxed a bit when he saw who had just arrived. Buffy had just portkeyed in, and she'd brought Willow, Kennedy, and Mr. Giles. Willow and Mr. Giles had fallen on arrival, and Buffy and Kennedy were swaying a bit on their feet. He turned to his sister. "When did you start carrying _that_ around?" 

Ginny had made the knife disappear back into her robes. "I don't, usually, but I thought I might need something. I picked it up after I sent the message to them." She nodded toward the new arrivals. 

"What happened?" Buffy was asking Dumbledore. "Where's Dawn?" 

"We do not, as yet, know the answer to either of those questions," said Dumbledore. 

"What do you know?" demanded Buffy. 

"Very little," said Dumbledore. "Your sister has not been seen since shortly after she left on her afternoon run." 

"You were supposed to keep her safe!" 

"I know." Harry could hear the deep sadness in Dumbledore's voice. "And you have my deepest apology for my failure." 

Buffy stepped toward Dumbledore. Harry could see that she didn't think his apology was good enough. Mr. Giles reached out and put his hand on her shoulder. "Buffy, wait." 

Buffy whirled around to glare at him. "_Wait for what, Giles?_" 

"Anger will not help us get Dawn back," said Giles. "You have to remain calm. Save your anger for those who took her, when we find them." 

Buffy closed her eyes, and clenched her fists. Harry could see that she wanted to hit someone…anyone. He was glad that he was on the far side of the room from her. After a few seconds she took a deep breath of air, and let it out. The killing tension seemed to leave her body with it, but Harry knew it was still there, barely concealed under the surface. "Alright. What are you doing to find her?" 

"Hagrid is searching the perimeter of the Forbidden Forest, where it is most likely Dawn was taken, for any clues about who may have abducted her. I have sent Remus to London to consult with the Aurors." Dumbledore nodded toward Harry and his friends. "These students were about to leave to check the southern boundary of the school grounds, in case she was taken there." 

Buffy nodded toward Kennedy. "Go with them. Let me know if you find anything." 

"On it!" said Kennedy. She looked toward Harry. "Lead on, MacDuff." 

"Who's MacDuff?" asked Ron as they left the office. 

* * *

Dawn was brought back to consciousness by a spray of ice cold water. She tried to recoil away from it, but there was nowhere to go in the tiny cell. She huddled on the floor, shivering from the cold and the pain. 

"Where is the Key?" asked her tormenter. 

"Don't know," mumbled Dawn. She tried to think, to clear enough of the fog from the pain and the cold from her mind to come up with something that could appease her tormenter without giving away the secret of the Key. She saw the globe in the man's hand glow red again. 

"It is useless to lie to me," said the man. He raised his wand again. 

"_No!_" cried Dawn. "I'll tell you! It's…it's…" She had a bit of an idea. She didn't know if it would work. "Dumbledore said it was in his office!" The globe in the man's hand glowed green, and Dawn felt a glimmer of hope. It reacted to the literal truth of what she was saying. Dumbledore _had_ said that the Key was in his office. 

"Where in his office?" asked the man. 

"It…it moved around," said Dawn. "Sometimes it was in different places." 

"What does it look like?" asked the man. 

"Don't know," said Dawn. The globe flashed red. He raised his wand. 

"_No!_" screamed Dawn. "It's green! It's green!" The red glow faded, and the globe shone green again. "It's beautiful green, glowing, swirling energy," she gasped out. She had heard several people describe the Key that way, after all. 

"And it's still in Dumbledore's office?" asked the man. 

"It was there last time I was there," said Dawn. 

The man looked at the glowing green orb in his hand. "Very good." He turned away, and vanished down the corridor. 

* * *

"Willow, can you find her?" asked Buffy. 

"I can try," said Willow, "but wherever she is, is probably shielded. My locater spells won't work any better for her than they did for Ginny." 

"What about focusing on the Key?" asked Buffy. "Can you track it?" 

"No," said Willow. "The monks did good work, and they shielded the Key well. They didn't want Glory tracking it with magic, and I can't either." 

"What about her telephone?" asked Dumbledore. "Can you track it?" 

"What?" asked Buffy. 

"Dawn had her telephone with her when she was taken," said Dumbledore. "That was why Miss Weasley had to contact you through her computer. Is it possible for Miss Rosenberg to trace Dawn's telephone?" 

"I don't know," said Willow. "I can't trace it through the phone company: all our charmed phones look like they're in Westbury to them. Her phone has a GPS receiver in it, but if she's indoors, it probably won't be able to receive the signals. I might be able to track her antenna. It's magically linked to an antenna I snuck into a cell tower near our house…that's why all our phones seem to be in Westbury to the phone company. Give me a few minutes to think about it." 

Willow went off to sit in a corner and think. Buffy started to pace around the office. The veneer of calm she had put on was looking like it was about to crack. 

Willow stood up from her seat. "Yes! I think that might work!" 

Hagrid burst through the door. "Professor! I found these in the forest!" He laid out Dawn's sweatshirt, wand, and cell phone on Dumbledore's desk. 

"Well, so much for that idea," said Willow. 


	52. A Small Package

Dawn couldn't remember ever feeling so miserable. Even when Glory had taken her, she'd been _warm_. Now she was wet, and cold, and shivering, and not just from the cold. The after effects of the Cruciatus curse left her trembling. Every bit of her body could still feel the effects, like the pins and needles feeling you had in a part of your body that had fallen asleep when the flow of blood was first restored to it. But this feeling didn't go away after a few seconds. It went on and on. 

She didn't notice when the man appeared at her cell door again. "Come here!" he told her. 

Dawn looked up at him. "What?" 

The man didn't repeat his order. He just pointed his wand toward her, Dawn tried to brace herself for a new round of unthinkable torment, but he didn't use the Cruciatus curse on her this time. "_Mobilicorpus!_" 

Dawn felt herself get yanked toward the cell door. She was in such poor shape that she didn't even manage to get her hands up to protect herself before she slammed into it. Something in the back of her mind told her that she'd be adding a large lump to her forehead to her catalogue of injuries, from where it hit the bars. She felt him grab her right arm, and pull it out through the door. She felt his hand on hers, pulling on her littlest finger. She felt something cold biting at the base of it, and then he let her go. She fell back onto the floor of her cell. 

Dawn lay stunned, not wanting to think about what she knew had just happened. If she didn't think about it, it wasn't real, but part of her knew that it was too real. She raised her hand up in front of her face, and saw the bloody stump where her finger had been. She screamed. 

Dawn didn't know how long she lay there, crying on the cold stone floor, but something in her forced her to push herself back up into a sitting position. Lying on the floor sapped the heat from her body too quickly. She pulled at the silk scarf that was knotted around her neck—a Christmas present from Harry—and wrapped it around her hand as a bandage. It was difficult to knot it, working with only one hand and her teeth, but she managed to get it securely tied after several attempts. She pulled her knees up against her chest, and wrapped her arms around her legs. She lowered her head onto her knees and let herself cry again. 

* * *

A dejected group returned to Dumbledore's office. Hagrid had taken Buffy and the others to the place in the Forbidden Forest where he had found Dawn's things. They had searched the area for more clues, and Willow had cast spells to try to determine where Dawn had gone from there, but they had found nothing. 

The group that had been searching the southern perimeter was also back, with the same results. No one had found anything that might indicate where Dawn had been taken. 

Willow was trying her repertoire of locator spells, hoping that one of them would show them something, but so far she wasn't having any luck. Whoever had taken Dawn hadn't been lax with their wards, and she was thoroughly hidden from magical detection. 

No one had wanted to go to their rooms as the night wore on, so Dumbledore had conjured up some cots for people to sleep in. None of them actually got any sleep, but they had all taken turns lying down in them. 

Harry was standing by one of Dumbledore's windows, watching the sun rise. A part of his mind thought that it was a beautiful sight. He wanted to share it with Dawn. Another part of his mind was afraid that he would never get the chance to share a sunrise with her. He saw a flicker of movement out over the forest. He watched it slowly grow until he could see it clearly. "Professor, there's an owl coming this way." 

Dumbledore had seemed to be dozing in his desk chair, but he came instantly alert. Buffy joined Harry at the window. They watched the owl as it kept coming toward them. They stepped aside as it swooped through the window. 

The owl dropped a small package on Professor Dumbledore's desk. It turned and tried to fly back out through the window. Buffy's hand lashed out and caught it. 

The owl screeched and beat its wings. It clawed at Buffy's hand with its talons, and bit her with its beak, but she didn't seem to notice. She kept her grip on it. "Someone get me something to put this thing in!" 

The noise the owl was making had roused everyone. Hermione conjured up a cage, and brought it to Buffy. Buffy shoved the owl into it, and latched the door closed. She turned back toward Dumbledore. "So, what did it deliver?" 

Professor Dumbledore was opening the envelope attached to the small box on his desk. "That is what I am trying to discover." He pulled out a single sheet of parchment, and read it. His face blanched, taking on the same colour as his hair and beard. He let the parchment fall to his desk. 

"What is it?" asked Buffy. 

Dumbledore didn't say anything. He reached for the box with trembling hands. He opened it. Buffy didn't think it was possible, but his face turned even whiter. 

"What is it?" asked Buffy again. 

"I am so sorry," said Professor Dumbledore. He picked up the parchment and handed it to her. 

Buffy looked at the note in her hand, she read through it quickly, but her mind refused to process what it said. She read it again: 

_ Dumbledore:  
  
Here is a piece of your student, Dawn Summers. If you  
do not wish to have her returned to you in similar sized  
pieces, give me the Key. A new piece will be delivered  
to you at dawn each morning until the Key is in my  
possession.  
  
V. _

Buffy stood frozen in place, holding the note in her fingers. She hadn't felt so helpless since the night that Glory had taken Dawn. She didn't know what to do. She felt someone tug at the parchment, and looked up to see Giles taking the note from her. She let him have it, and looked back at Dumbledore. He had just replaced the lid on the box. "Show me," she said. 

"Miss Summers, there is no need for you to see this." 

"_Show me!_" snarled Buffy. 

Nearly everyone was surprised by the tone in her voice. Giles wasn't. He'd read the note now. He watched Dumbledore hand the box to Buffy, and he watched her open the lid. He could see the severed finger that the box contained. 

Buffy slowly replaced the cover on the box. She felt cold. A deep down coldness she hadn't felt since the first days following her resurrection. She heard Willow asking what the note said, and what was in the box, but her voice sounded distant. It barely registered in her mind when she heard Giles read the note out loud for the others. 

"What do we do now?" asked Willow. 

"We have to give Voldemort the Key," said Hermione. 

"We can't," whispered Harry. 

"What?" asked Hermione. 

"She's your girlfriend, you git!" shouted Ron. "What's so bloody important about this bloody Key? We've been trying to research that bloody thing for half the bloody year, and we haven't found a bloody useful thing it can do!" 

Buffy looked toward Harry and saw the despair in his eyes. She knew then that he knew. "The irony's a bitch, isn't it?" she asked him. She saw Harry nod. 

"What is going on?" asked Ginny. She had noticed that Buffy was agreeing with Harry, and several other people in the room were looking like they were too. She couldn't understand it. 

Buffy sighed, and looked around the room. Everyone here was a friend of Dawn's, and she had heard the stories of what they had gone through in the last few years. "Okay, here's the deal, and you can't breathe a word of this outside this room: the reason we can't give Voldemort the Key is that he's already got it. He just doesn't know it yet." 

"What?" asked Hermione. 

"We can't trade the Key for Dawn, because Dawn is the Key," said Harry. 

* * *

Dawn wasn't aware of how long she sat huddled into a ball on the floor of her cell. She never really went to sleep—she hurt too much for that—but she wasn't really awake either. She was cold, and she was thirsty and hungry. Her nose told her that she had pissed herself too, probably while she was undergoing the Cruciatus curse, but she hadn't been aware of it at the time. 

She had cried herself out long ago. Now she just sat huddled up to conserve her body heat, and shivered. She had tried to get up, to warm herself with some exercise, but she was too sore and tired. 

She heard a _crack!_ She knew that sound, but she was too tired to pay attention to it. Then she felt something brush against her ear. 'Great!' she thought. 'Now I'm sharing my cell with bugs.' She couldn't bring herself to look up though. 

Something nudged the side of her head again, a lot harder this time. A lot harder than any bug could, or even a rat, unless it was a ROUS. Dawn raised her head to see what new horror was here to torment her. She blinked when she saw herself looking into a pair of large brown eyes. She blinked again at the golden triangle of horns above them. "Trei!" she gasped, and she wrapped her arms around the Trivet's neck. "Oh Trei!" 

She sat holding the Trivet in her arms. It was warm and soft and wonderful. She started to cry again. The Trivet bleeted back at her. "How did you find me?" she asked. 

The Trivet looked at Dawn like it thought she had just asked a very foolish question. Dawn remembered Hagrid's first Care of Magical Creatures class. _'Trivets can apparate anywhere, even Hogwarts. They just have to know someone at wherever they're going to.'_

"You can take a message!" Dawn whispered to the Trivet. "You can get help!" 

Trei just looked at her and bleeted. 

"I need something to write on!" said Dawn. "I need something to write _with!_" She started to feel at her pockets. It wasn't really any use. She'd already done that, long ago, and she knew that her pockets were all empty. She looked around her cell. It was almost as empty as it had ever been. Then only thing in it that hadn't been here the last time she'd looked was Trei. 

Dawn was also wondering about what to write. She had no idea where she was. There were no windows anywhere near where she was so she didn't even know if it was day or night. "God, what can I tell anyone?" 

After a couple of seconds Dawn realized that the most important message she could send was also a very simple one. She had to let people know that Trei could find her. She started to tug at the knot that bound her scarf around her hand. Getting it untied turned out to be almost as hard as it had been to tie in it the first place, but she managed to get it undone. She unwrapped her bandage. She hissed a bit from the pain as the last bit pulled away from the stump of her finger. Her blood had dried into the silk, and pulling the bandage free started the stump bleeding again. Dawn ignored it and wrapped her scarf around the Trivet's neck. She tied it as tightly as she dared, without risking choking Trei. 

"Go to Hagrid!" she told the Trivet. "You have to take my scarf to Hagrid!" 

Trei just blinked, and bleeted at her. 

"You have to go!" said Dawn. "Go to Hagrid!" She heard the sound of a door opening at the far end of the corridor. "Now! someone's coming!" she hissed. 

Trei bleeted one last time, and disappeared with a _crack!_

"_What was that?_" called the voice from down the hall. 

Dawn started to panic. No one could know that Trei had been there. She kicked at her cell door, hoping that the noise that made would be enough like the noise of the Trivet disapparating. "_Let me out of here!_" she screamed. She kicked the door again. 

Her masked tormenter appeared outside her cell. "Stop that racket," he told her. "Won't do you any good anyway. May just make me take the next finger ahead of schedule." 

"_Let me out!_" yelled Dawn. She kicked at the door again. 

"If you're going to be that way…" the man raised his wand, and for a moment Dawn was afraid she'd gone too far. She was almost relieved when she heard the spell leave his lips. "_Stupefy!_" 


	53. Rescue

The people in Dumbledore's office were looking even worse than they had that morning. A grim faced Willow had taken a blood sample from Dawn's finger, on the theory that she'd get better results with her blood in a locater spell than she had with the hairs recovered from Dawn's brush. The finger itself had had a preservative spell cast on it, and been sent to Madam Pomfrey. 

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny had finally passed out in the cots Dumbledore had provided, and Giles was dozing in a chair. Kennedy was sitting by the table that Willow was working at, her elbow resting on the table, and her head resting on her hand. She looked like she was asleep too. 

"_Damn it!_" Willow slammed her fist down on the table, startling Kennedy awake. Yet another attempt at a locator spell had come up empty. 

Buffy came up behind her, and rubbed Willow's shoulders. "Why don't you get some rest, Will? You can't do Dawn any good if you're asleep on your feet." 

"Look who's talking," said Willow. 

"Hey, I'm the Slayer," said Buffy. "Sleeplessness is part of the job." 

Dumbledore came back down into his office. Buffy looked up at him. "Anything?" 

"No," said Dumbledore. "The Aurors have traced the owl. It is a public post owl, from London. Anyone could have sent that package." 

"Any fingerprints, or fibers, or any of that other stuff they talk about on CSI on it?" asked Buffy. 

"I'm afraid not," said Dumbledore. "Forensic Aurors are very good at gathering that sort of evidence. Unfortunately, our adversaries are also very good at masking it. There is nothing particularly distinctive about the parchment, ink, or the box. Any of them may have been obtained at any one of a dozen places, and they aren't the sort of sale that anyone would keep a record of. None of the sales people interviewed can remember selling that particular combination of items to anyone, if they were purchased together at all." 

"What about the three guys who tried to grab Dawn last month?" asked Buffy. "Have you learned anything from them?" 

"No," said Dumbledore. "Remus is looking through transcripts of the interviews with those men again, but he is not hopeful. I am not the only one who can guard secrets behind a Fidelius. All Death Eater strongholds are similarly protected. Severus has been in contact with some of the agents that he has managed to recruit in Voldemort's camp, but they have been unable to tell him anything either." 

"I can't just stand around here!" said Buffy. "Point me at something I can beat some information out of!" 

"Miss Summers, I understand your agitation, but we do not work that way," said Dumbledore. "There are proper procedures that must be followed." 

"That's part of your problem," said Buffy. 

"What do you mean by that?" asked Dumbledore. 

"You say that you are in a war with Voldemort, but you're trying to fight it with cops. Cops can't fight a war. It's not what they're trained for. You fight a war with soldiers. Cops aren't soldiers." 

"If we allow ourselves to fall into using Voldemort's methods, are we any better than he is?" asked Dumbledore. 

"I didn't say that you throw the rule book away," said Buffy. "You need a _different_ rule book. Soldiers have their rules of engagement too, but they aren't the same rules that a cop has." 

Dumbledore paused to consider his response to that. If he came up with one, he never had the chance to deliver it. There was the sound of heavy footsteps on the stairway. Someone was in too much of a hurry to wait for the spiral staircase to carry them up to Dumbledore's office. Buffy turned to the door just in time to see Hagrid's huge body filling it. 

"Professor Dumbledore, sir!" cried Hagrid, before he stopped to pant for breath. "Tha Trivet sir! Dawn's friend Trei!" He couldn't say any more. He waved the item in his hand. 

Hagrid's arrival had woken everyone up. Harry's eyes locked on the bit of silk waving in his hand. He darted forward, and snatched it away. "It's Dawn's scarf!" He ran it through his hands, and then stopped, seeing the reddish brown stains on it. "Oh god! That's blood!" 

Professor Dumbledore held out his hand, "May I have that Harry?" Harry wordlessly handed him the scarf. 

Dumbledore looked the scarf over carefully, as if looking for any secret message that may have been written on it. "Where did you find this Hagrid?" 

"Trei, sir! Tha Trivet," said Hagrid. He had his breathing under better control now. "She turned up at my hut, jus' a few minutes ago, an' tha' were tied aroun' her neck! I knew it t'were Dawn's sir, so I ran all the way here!" 

"Trivets can apparate to anyone they know!" said Hermione. "Trei found Dawn!" 

"Dawn should have named her Lassie!" said Buffy. "Can she lead us back?" 

"Possibly," said Dumbledore. "We could put something on her that is charmed so we could follow it." He paused to consider that for a moment. "No, the wards around wherever they are holding Dawn are probably too strong for us to have any more luck trying to track such an object than we have been at locating Dawn. If Miss Rosenberg hasn't been able to locate her, even with some of Dawn's own blood to work with, it is doubtful that we would be able to charm a tracker powerful enough in the time we have available." 

Buffy felt the hope that had suddenly risen in her come crashing down. "Then what good is this?" 

Dumbledore started to smile. "It may be pointless to try to track the Trivet, but we don't need to know where it is going. Trei knowing is sufficient." He turned to his desk, and started to search it for something. 

"What are you looking for?" asked Ron. 

"Something suitable to be made into a portkey," said Dumbledore. "Something that can be easily and securely attached to the Trivet." 

Buffy's hand went to her neck, and she pulled the silver cross necklace she was wearing over her head. "Will this do?" She held it out to the Professor. 

"Yes! Perfect!" said Dumbledore. He took the necklace by its chain and held it up. "This will do quite nicely." He touched the tip of his wand to the silver cross. "_Portus!_" He held the necklace out toward Hagrid. "There! Take this back, and put it on Trei. Ask her to deliver it to Dawn." 

Hagrid hesitated for a moment before he took the necklace. "Tha' ain't goin' ta port me nowhere is it?" 

"No, no," said Dumbledore. "It has been…keyed to Dawn, so to speak." He seemed to be the only one who appreciated his pun. 

"Let's go!" said Buffy. 

"Ah, Miss Summers, I believe it would be best for Hagrid to go alone." 

Buffy turned to frown at Dumbledore. "Why?" 

"Because the Trivet will not come near anyone other than him," said Dumbledore. "He can accomplish his task most quickly if he is alone." 

"Oh, right." Buffy felt herself coming down again from the roller coaster ride that the last few minutes had become. She had been looking forward to a little action, even if it was just a trip to Hagrid's hut. 

"We will go to the hospital wing," said Professor Dumbledore. 

"Why there?" 

"Dawn will be in need of immediate medical assistance, so that is where the portkey will take her," said Dumbledore. "It isn't often that I _hope_ that Poppy will have a new patient soon." 

* * *

Dawn's shivering had gotten even worse when she finally woke up. She was lying on the cold stone floor, and couldn't even muster the strength to make herself sit up again. She pulled her knees up, and lay there in fetal position. Her mind was fogged, she couldn't think clearly. She knew that there was something that she was hoping would happen soon, but she couldn't remember what it was. 

She felt something nudge her ear, and something wet and warm slide over her cheek. She opened her eyes. "Trei? Wha' you doin' here? You…you were 'possed to go to 'agrid." 

It took her several seconds to notice that her scarf was gone from around the Trivet's neck. In its place was a familiar necklace. Dawn reached out with her hand and grabbed it. 

Dawn felt a yank, like something had hooked her just behind her navel, and pulled her backwards. The world seemed to whirl around her, and then she felt herself hitting the floor. It was a different floor from the floor in her cell. This one was smooth, and warm, but it was just as hard. She heard a startled "_Bleet!_" from Trei, followed by the _crack_ of her disapparating. She heard a sudden babble of excited voices; voices she recognised; voices of her friends, and felt people crowding around her. 

One voice cut through all the others. "Dawn! Dawn! Are you alright?" 

Dawn thought that that was a very stupid question to ask. She had never felt less 'alright' in her life, but she forced a smile onto her lips. "Peachy," she managed to mumble to her sister. She felt Buffy's hand go around her own left hand, and she clutched at it tightly. 

"Clear back everyone!" came Madame Pomfrey's voice. "Give me room!" 

Dawn felt most of the people crowding around her back away a bit, but she kept her grip on Buffy's hand, refusing to letting go of it. She felt herself be lifted, and placed onto something soft and warm. Everyone seemed to go away, except for Buffy and Madam Pomfrey. She felt her clothes get stripped away, and heard Madam Pomfrey muttering cleaning and healing spells under her breath as she examined Dawn's body. She heard her muttering more things. Words like 'Cruciatus shock,' 'hypothermia,' 'dehydration,' and 'exhaustion.' 

Eventually Dawn felt herself get wrapped in warm, soft pajamas, and covered with blankets. The bed contorted under her, lifting her up into a nearly sitting position, and something warm was brought to her lips. She smelled the chocolate, and nearly smiled. Chocolate: Madam Pomfrey's miracle cure-all. She suddenly realized that she was incredibly thirsty, and hungry. She gulped the warm chocolate down as quickly as Madam Pomfrey would let her. She wanted to ask for something more, but sleep took her before she could get a word out. 

Buffy felt Dawn's grip on her hand relaxing as the bed reshaped itself, lowering Dawn back down. Dawn's hand felt cold, and she was still shivering. She looked at Madam Pomfrey. 

The medi-witch smiled at Buffy. "She'll be fine," she said. "She needs warmth and rest most of all now. I put some Dreamless Sleep potion into her chocolate, and I'll be rehydrating her, but I expect that she will fully recover." 

"Thank you, Madam," said Buffy. 

"No need," said Madam Pomfrey. "I'm just doing my job." 

"Some people don't get thanked enough for doing their jobs," said Buffy. "Thank you!" She reluctantly pulled her hand away from Dawn's, taking the object that had been pressed between their palms with it. She could see the imprint the cross had left on Dawn's palm. She lifted her necklace up before her, and looked at it. 

"What are you going to do?" asked Madam Pomfrey, as she turned her attention to the stub of a finger on Dawn's right hand. 

Buffy kept looking at the cross dangling in the air in front of her. "My job." 


	54. Counterstrike

Harry stopped pacing the floor of the hospital ward when Buffy came out from behind the curtain that had been drawn around Dawn's bed. "How is she? Can I see her?" 

"Madam Pomfrey gave her something to sleep," said Buffy. "She says she's going to be fine, in time." Buffy wasn't as sure as she sounded. Even if Dawn recovered physically, what would what she had been through do to _her?_

Harry seemed to be thinking the same thing. "I'm sure she'll be okay. She's strong." 

"I hope so," said Buffy. "She's been through so much… I'm afraid that one day… Sometimes it seems easier to just give up." 

"But not today," said Harry. "Not after what they did to her." 

"You're right." Buffy lifted the necklace that was still dangling from her hand, and looked at it again. "I seem to recall someone telling me that these portkey things are reversible." 

"That's right," said Hermione. "They contain the memory of where they came from, and can take you back there." 

Buffy's eyes hadn't left her cross. "I think it's time I taught these Death Eater guys that it isn't a good idea to piss off a Slayer." 

"Two Slayers," said Kennedy. 

"Three," said Ginny. 

Buffy looked at her. "I promised your parents not to put you into a fight before you're eighteen." 

"This fight came to me," said Ginny. "And you'd already burned down your first school building when you were my age." 

"And she's going to have her big brother watching her back," said Ron. 

Buffy looked around the room, taking in the looks on everyone's faces. She could see the same determination on all of them. She focused on Dumbledore for a moment, wondering if he would raise an objection to his students taking part in the assault. He didn't. "Okay, everyone who's coming, follow me." She turned and strode away toward the exit. No one stayed behind. 

"Where are we going?" asked Ron as he followed Buffy down the hall. 

"The Room of Requirement," said Buffy. "I didn't pack any weapons." 

* * *

Buffy looked around at everyone. She, Kennedy, Ginny and Giles all had staffs, and nearly everyone had at least one knife. Buffy had briefly considered going back to their house in Westbury to get the Scythe, but she decided against it. For the most part the Death Eaters were human, and she was still reluctant to kill them—and the Scythe was made for killing things. There was at least one Death Eater she was ready to make an exception for though, if she could identify the one that had hurt Dawn. Harry, Ron and Hermione had decided to rely mainly on their wands, and Professor Dumbledore had refused to take any weapon beyond his wand. 

"When we get there, we work in teams," said Buffy. "Slayer and magic. Harry, you're with me. Kennedy's with Willow. Ron and Hermione with Ginny. Giles with Dumbledore. Everyone stick with your partners." She looked around to be sure that everyone understood their assignments. 

"We don't know what we are going up against," said Giles. He looked at Dumbledore. "Perhaps we could get some Aurors to help us?" 

"No time," said Buffy. "The longer we wait, the more likely they'll have either cleared out, or set up an ambush for us. If we're lucky they don't know Dawn's gone yet." 

"Very well, Miss Summers. May I have your necklace again, please?" Dumbledore held out his hand. 

"Here you go," Buffy dropped her necklace into it. 

Dumbledore held it out, holding the chain, and letting the cross dangle. "Now everyone take hold of part of the chain." 

They all crowded around Professor Dumbledore and reached out to take hold of the chain. It was a tight fit. "All right," said Dumbledore. "Here we go. Three…two…one…" 

Buffy felt the yank just behind her navel, and the world spun around her. When it stopped spinning she found she was in a much smaller and darker space. A space with a very pungent odour to it. It seemed that the only thing that kept a couple of their party from falling over was that there wasn't _room_ for them to fall over. The nine of them were all crowded into a tiny six by six cell. Her inner fury at the Death Eaters grew even more at the thought of Dawn being held here. 

Buffy turned toward the door. "Give me a little room." She nudged her companions to get them to back away as much as they could. 

Hermione had raised her wand and was pointing at the lock on the door. "_Aloho—_" 

_Clang!_ Buffy's boot had hit the door before Hermione's spell was finished, and the door sprang open. Bits of metal from the broken lock fell to the floor. Buffy turned to look at Hermione. "I'm sorry, what were you about to do?" 

"Never mind," said Hermione. 

They all spilled out into the torch lit corridor. "You think anyone heard that?" asked Ron. 

His question was answered by a muffled voice from the far end of the hall. "What does it take to keep that mudblood bitch quiet?" Buffy heard a door opening, and raced toward it. The Death Eater coming down the stairs stepped into the corridor just in time to have Buffy's staff hit him in the face. He was also hit by combination of _Stupefy_, _Impedimentia_, and _Petrificus_ curses before he hit the floor. 

Buffy heard a commotion from beyond the door at the top of the stairs. Whoever was up there knew that something was happening. She decided not to give them the chance to prepare for an attack. She ran up the stairs, taking them four at a time, and hit the door at the top, taking it right off its hinges. She barely paused to take in the scene: half a dozen black cloaked wizards raising their wands toward her. She leapt as the curses started to fly. 

Buffy was clear of the door before the first curse hit. Kennedy wasn't so lucky. She was hit by the full force of a _Stupefy_ as she came through the door after the older Slayer. It wasn't enough to knock her out, but she was staggered by the force of the spell. It didn't make any difference to the outcome though. Buffy was already among the Death Eaters, spinning and striking with her staff and her feet. It was all over in seconds, and none of the Death Eaters were left standing. 

Buffy took the time to look around while Professor Dumbledore moved around the people she had taken out, diswanding, and binding them. She looked at Kennedy. "You okay?" 

"Hunky dory!" said Kennedy. "I'll be fine as soon as the room stops spinning." 

Hermione pointed her wand at Kennedy. "_Ennervate!_" 

"Whoa!" said Kennedy. "That's quite the little pick-me-up!" 

"Which way now?" asked Buffy. They appeared to be in the entry hall of a large house, with several doors around them, and a grand staircase leading up to another floor. 

Willow pointed up the stairs. "I'm feeling some really dark power up that way." 

"Okay," said Buffy. "Everyone stick together. No running off on your own!" She led the way up the stairs. 

Harry found himself struggling to keep up with Buffy, Kennedy and Ginny as they ran up the stairs, and he wasn't the only one. Ron, Hermione and Willow were lagging a little behind as well, and Giles and Dumbledore brought up the rear. 

There was a broad landing at the top of the stairs, and the Slayers paused for a moment to let the others catch up with them. Buffy pointed to a large pair of doors in front of her. "Through there?" 

Harry nodded. He could feel what Willow had sensed from down below now. "Through there." 

Buffy stepped up to the doors and gave them a kick in the center, where they met. They crashed open, with the sound of splintering wood. Buffy stepped through into the next room, with Ginny and Kennedy flanking her. "_Who here ordered an ass kicking?_" 

Harry looked past Buffy, and saw a frozen tableau of about a dozen Death Eaters in their black robes and masks all looking toward the door. No one moved for a second that seemed to drag on forever. It was ended by a wordless growl that came from the Death Eaters. They raised their wands and pointed them toward the door. 

Ginny dove left, and Kennedy dove right as a flurry of curses flew toward the door. Buffy leapt over the initial volley and came down moving fast. The others, behind the Slayers, were saved from the blast by a quick shield spell that Willow threw up. 

Buffy wasn't able to tear through these Death Eaters as quickly as she had the ones downstairs. The room was bigger, and they were more spread out. On the other hand, her support had time to catch up with her this time. It wasn't just one Slayer attacking the Death Eaters. Ginny and Kennedy were attacking too, with magical fire support. Harry stuck with Buffy, like she'd told him, using his wand to shield her from attack, and firing off his own curses when the opportunity presented itself. Ron and Hermione were doing the same for Ginny, with Hermione concentrating on protection, while Ron concentrated on offense. Willow was providing an almost impenetrable shield for Kennedy, while Dumbledore hung back from the fight, providing a little extra protection wherever he saw it was needed. 

Giles attacked with his staff. He didn't move as quickly as the Slayers, but Harry thought he made up for his lack of speed with an extra level of viciousness. His lack of speed cost him though. He was caught by the red blast of a stunner spell that was fired by someone lurking through one of the side entrances to the room. Harry sent his own _Stupefy_ curse through the same doorway an instant later, but he couldn't see if it hit anyone. 

Giles wasn't their only casualty. Hermione fell to a full body bind spell—she had been concentrating on protecting Ginny from a barrage of stunners. The sudden loss of Hermione's protection let Ginny get hit by a _Stupefy_. It took her out of the fight for several seconds while she recovered, but it didn't matter. It took a little longer than it had downstairs, but soon there were no Death Eaters left standing. The last few escaped through a doorway hidden behind an ornate raised chair. 

Harry took the opportunity to look around while Dumbledore released Hermione from the body bind, and revived Giles. They were in a large room that was hung in black tapestries adorned with a red snake emblem. The floor was highly polished black marble. The lighting came from torches spaced around the walls. The ceiling overhead was midnight black. Harry couldn't tell if there was even a ceiling there at all, it was nothing but a black abyss. 

Ron put what Harry was thinking into words: "Looks like we've found Voldemort's throne room." 

"Yeah, but where's the head snake?" asked Buffy. Her eyes kept scanning the room, keeping a watch on the side entrances. Several Death Eaters had sniped at them from those doorways during the fight, but there was no sign of them now. Her Slayer senses were telling her that something evil was nearby though. "Willow, are you getting anything?" 

Willow pointed toward the throne. "That way." 

Giles was looking around warily too. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" he asked. "So far we've had the element of surprise, but now they know we're here, and they'll have had a chance to regroup, call in reinforcements. Maybe set up an ambush." 

Buffy looked around at the Death Eaters on the floor, all of whom Dumbledore was diswanding, and binding like the others downstairs. "So far we've done nothing but take out minions. I want the head guy." 

"And he wants you," hissed a voice from behind the throne. A figure stepped out into the room, clad in black robes, trimmed with red. Buffy could see the bone white skin of his face under his hood, and the burning red eyes. More Death Eaters started to appear from the side entrances to the throne room, surrounding them. 

"So you're Lord Moldywart," said Buffy. "Can't say I'm impressed." 

Voldemort hissed. "You will pay for your insolence, Muggle!" His skeletal hand lifted a slender wand. "_Imperio!_" 

Buffy heard a whispering in her mind. It was a soothing voice, telling her what to do. "_Kill the boy, and the old man,_" it urged her. "_It will be easy. Take your knife and slash their throats._" It sounded like such a reasonable thing to do. She knew she would be happy if she just did that one simple thing. It wouldn't be any bother at all. Her hand went to the hilt of the knife sheathed at her belt. 

Buffy's hand moved too fast for anyone to follow it. She snatched the knife from her belt, and let it fly, straight into Voldemort's heart. There was a gasp from the Death Eaters as he staggered back. 

"Save your mind control crap for the tourists!" said Buffy. 

Voldemort didn't collapse to the floor the way Buffy expected him to. He let out a laugh that chilled everyone who heard it to the bone. His hand came up and pulled the knife out of his chest. "You think your Muggle toys can harm _me?_" He held up the knife, and Buffy saw that there was no blood on its blade. He tossed it aside. "Destroy them!" 

The Death Eaters surrounding them let forth a barrage of curses. Willow's hands flew up. "_Protege!_" A golden shell surrounded them all, and the curses were reflected harmlessly away, but no one inside her shield could do anything about their attackers, either. 

"It seems that there is one among you who has a little power," hissed Voldemort. "No matter." He pointed his wand at Willow. "_Avada Kedavra!_" 

Green fire from Voldemort's wand crashed against Willow's shield. The power of the curse was attenuated, but it wasn't stopped. Willow screamed as it hit her. She and her shield collapsed. 

"_**Willow!**_" screamed Kennedy. She turned toward Voldemort. "_You bastard!_" She charged at him, heedless of everyone else in the room. She was caught in a crossfire of curses, and collapsed to the floor. 

Buffy had wanted to join in Kennedy's head on attack on Voldemort, but years of experience didn't let her. She held her grief and rage in check, channelling it into a remorseless attack on the Death Eaters around her. First she'd deal with them, and _then_ she'd deal with Voldemort. 

They broke up into their teams as they attacked. Harry stuck with Buffy—shielding her from the curses flying at them from all around—and Ron and Hermione shielded Ginny, while the Slayers attacked the Death Eaters. 

Unfortunately, there had been a very ruthless form of natural selection taking place with the Death Eaters. The ones who were still conscious were the ones who knew to stay away from the Slayers, and snipe from a distance. They too had learned to work in teams of two or more, each providing cover for their partner, and they had more teams. There were always Death Eaters free to snipe at the Slayers without having to worry about protecting themselves from attack. Ginny was the next to fall, caught by a curse that got past Ron and Hermione's protection spells, and then Giles got knocked out again. Dumbledore moved to help cover Ron and Hermione. 

Voldemort stayed aloof through most of the fight. Only contributing a laugh from time to time, as someone fell. He seemed to find the casualties taking place on both sides to be equally amusing. He didn't deign to join in until Buffy, Harry and Dumbledore were the only non-Death Eaters left standing. They stood back to back in a triangle as the Death Eaters slowly closed in on them. 

"Enough!" said Voldemort. He raised his wand and pointed it at Buffy. "_Crucio!_

Buffy screamed as the pain ripped through her body. Her staff clattered to the floor, and she fell to her knees. Harry and Dumbledore both sent curses flying at Voldemort, but they were deflected by other Death Eaters. Voldemort slowly came forward, Death Eaters parting to make way for him. 

Voldemort released Buffy from the Cruciatus curse. She reached for her staff, and climbed back to her feet, rage burning in her eyes. "I am going to kill you slowly," she hissed at him through gritted teeth. 

"You think so?" asked Voldemort. "I think it is you who is about to die." He pointed his wand again. 

Harry could feel the power gathering in Voldemort, and he knew the words he was about to say. He desperately tried to think of something, _anything_ he could do to stop what was about to happen. He felt the power concentrating, knowing that there was nothing that could stop it. He heard Voldemort begin to speak the words: "_Avada—_" 

"_**No!**_" cried Harry. He could _feel_ the power, and he could remember how Willow had pulled power out of Kennedy and Anya that day over a year ago. He reached out with his hand, and his mind reached into Voldemort. He ripped the power out of him. 

Voldemort gasped, and fell to his knees. Harry felt the power filling him, and with it the rage, the envy, and the loathing. Rage at the world that had abused him as a child. The envy for all those things that others had, that had been denied him. The loathing of everything around him. Harry looked down at Voldemort on his knees, and his rage grew. This man— this _thing_ had stolen his family from him. It had hurt and killed his friends. He stepped toward it. 

Buffy looked at Harry, and saw the rage in his face. She saw the solid black of his eyes. "Uh-oh." 

The Death Eaters were too stunned by seeing their master fall to do anything. They stood motionless as Harry approached Voldemort. They watched as Harry knelt, and placed his hand on Voldemort's chest. "You don't deserve to live!" he hissed. His hand started to glow as he sucked every little bit of power remaining out of Voldemort. It was an empty husk that fell to the floor when he was done. 

A deathly silence filled the throne room when Harry stood again. He slowly turned, looking at all the Death Eaters around them. It was impossible to tell in the dim light, but Buffy knew that Harry's hair was coal black, matching his eyes. His face was lined with dark veins, and it terrified her. She remembered when Willow had looked like that. "Harry, you have to stop this," she whispered. 

Harry let out a wordless cry of rage. A ring of magic burst out from him, knocking all the Death Eaters around them flying back against the walls. They fell to the floor, and they didn't get up. Harry stood still for a moment, panting for air. The veins showing on his face faded, his eyes reverted to their clear green. He collapsed to the floor. 

Buffy and Dumbledore stood still for a moment, the only ones left standing. The floor around them was littered with bodies. Dumbledore moved first, stepping forward, and kneeling beside Harry. 

Buffy spun around, looking for Willow. She spotted her a few yards away, lying in a surprisingly clear area of the floor. She jumped over the unconscious bodies of several Death Eaters as she rushed toward her. 

Buffy dropped to the floor and gathered up her friend in her arms. She let the grief she had been holding in come pouring out, and she started to cry. "Oh god Willow, I'm so sorry!" She held Willow's face against her chest. 

"So 'm I," came Willow's muffled voice. 

"What?" Buffy took hold of Willow's shoulders and pushed her back. "Will! You're alive!" 

"I'm still waiting for a second opinion on that one," said Willow. 

"Oh Willow!" Buffy pulled Willow back, and hugged her even tighter. 

"Gack!" said Willow. "Slayer strength!" 

Buffy quickly let go of her. "Oh! Sorry." 

"'S okay," said Willow. "Jus' le'me sleep for a week or two…I'll be fine." She snuggled up against Buffy, closed her eyes, and passed out again. 


	55. Cleanup

Dumbledore revived nearly everyone from their group. He conjured up a couple of cots in which Harry and Willow were lain, and then the rest of them went to work disarming and securing the unconscious Death Eaters. Some of the ones who had been knocked out by the Slayers' attack were starting to stir, but there was no sign that any of the ones that Harry's blast had taken out would be waking up soon. 

The job of securing the scene was soon taken over by the squads of Aurors that started to arrive from the Ministry. The wards surrounding Voldemort's stronghold had fallen on his death, and dark magic detectors all over Britain had reacted to the burst of power. The first Aurors to respond had been very cautious about entering what had once been the Riddle house, and they were amazed to first find half a dozen bound, unconscious Death Eaters in the entry hall, and then dozens more in the throne room upstairs being presided over by Professor Dumbledore, some of his students, and a few Muggles. The first Auror to enter Voldemort's throne room had nearly had her head taken off by Kennedy, before Dumbledore stopped her. 

Messages were quickly dispatched, and every off duty Auror, and all the others who could be spared from other duties, was called in to help secure the premises. Kingsley Shacklebolt took command of the scene and was soon barking orders to dozens of junior Aurors. Those who weren't securing the prisoners where searching the rest of the building, looking for anyone who might be hiding there, and for any dark magic artefacts that needed to be impounded. They found a few unconscious Death Eaters in some of the other rooms: Harry's blast hadn't been confined to the throne room. 

None of the Aurors could figure out _what_ had knocked most of the Death Eaters out, and Dumbledore chose not to enlighten them. He merely said that it was a side effect of the burst of power that had been released when Voldemort died. Some of the Aurors wondered how Dumbledore and the others with him had escaped that burst. Others found it hard to believe that Voldemort was indeed dead, even though this time there was clearly a body. They had thought that Voldemort was dead once before. 

Dumbledore deflected most of their questions, telling them that he had to get his students back to the school, and with that he pulled a large wooden spoon out of his pocket. He moved between the cots that Willow and Harry were lying in. "If two of you would take hold of Harry and Willow's hands," he said. 

Buffy reached out to take Willow's, and Ron took Harry's. Dumbledore held the spoon out in front of him. "All right now, everyone touch the portkey. Three…two…one…" 

Buffy felt the familiar tug behind her navel, and the world spun around her. When it stopped she was back in the Hogwarts hospital wing, by the foot of Dawn's bed. 

Madam Pomfrey had been examining Dawn's hand when they arrived, but she quickly dropped that to check on the new patients that had been delivered to her. Her examinations of Willow and Harry showed that they weren't suffering from anything other than exhaustion, and she prescribed sleep for both of them. They were placed into beds on opposite sides of Dawn. 

Giles removed his glasses, and rubbed his temples. "Do you have anything for a headache?" 

"Hey Giles, you got knocked out twice in one day," said Buffy. "Is that a new record for you?" 

"Unfortunately, no." 

Madam Pomfrey reached into her pocket, and pulled out a small bottle. "Take two of these, and call me in the morning." 

Giles looked at the bottle. "Aspirin?" 

"Muggle-born students kept asking me for it, so I decided to check it out," said Madam Pomfrey. "It really does have some most astonishing properties." 

Buffy moved over beside Dawn's bed, and took her left hand in hers. "How's she doing?" she asked. She could see that Dawn had stopped shivering, and her hand felt warm. 

"She's doing fine," said Madam Pomfrey. "I have reattached her finger, and the graft seems to be taking well. I expect that she'll sleep for another day though. You should go get some rest yourself." 

"No," said Buffy. "I want to stay here with her." 

"Suit yourself," said Madam Pomfrey. She looked around at the other students: Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. "You lot are going to bed _now_ though." 

They all tried to protest, but both Buffy and Professor Dumbledore backed up Madam Pomfrey. Dumbledore summoned Professors McGonagall and Lupin to escort them back to their dorm rooms. The professors were given doses of Dreamless Sleep potion to administer to the students once they got there to make _sure_ that they went to sleep. Madam Pomfrey wanted to send Kennedy away too, but she refused to leave Willow's side, and the look in her eyes made it clear that she was willing to fight anyone who wanted to try to make her go. 

* * *

Buffy was sitting quietly with Dawn, holding her hand. The hospital ward was dark, only a little light coming from a few dim candles burning in the sconces on the walls. She heard a distant _crack_—the sound of something apparating—and looked toward it, but she didn't see anything. She figured it was probably one of the House Elves. Dobby had brought her and Kennedy some midnight snacks, and he and Winky had a habit of checking on them fairly frequently. Kennedy was dozing in her chair beside Willow's bed, and didn't react to the noise at all. 

Buffy heard the sound of something hard tapping on the stone floor…something like tiny hoofs. She looked again, and saw a glint of gold shining in the candle light. Trei moved cautiously down the ward, looking like the slightest motion might startle her away. Buffy froze, not wanting to frighten the Trivet off. 

Trei moved past the end of Dawn's bed, coming around to the opposite side from Buffy. She bleeted softly, and nudged Dawn's shoulder with her nose. Then she looked up at Buffy. 

"She's going to be okay," whispered Buffy. "Thanks to you. I'm going to have to talk to Hagrid. Make sure you get a lifetime supply of carrots, and whatever else you may like to eat." 

Trei bleeted again, rested her head on the mattress beside Dawn's head, and closed her eyes. 

* * *

Dawn started to thrash in her bed at about three in the morning. Buffy had nearly dozed off in her chair, but Dawn's sudden movement, and the _crack_ of Trei disapparating woke her. "_No!_" cried Dawn. "_No more! I'll tell you! I'll tell you!_" 

Buffy moved to sit on the bed, and clutched at Dawn's hand. She stroked her hand across Dawn's forehead. "Hey Dawnie, it's okay," she said softly. "You're safe now. You're safe." 

Dawn seemed to calm a bit, but she kept tossing. "No! Not again!" 

Buffy looked up and saw Madam Pomfrey coming. Kennedy had gone to fetch her as soon as Dawn had started thrashing. "Is there anything you can do for her?" she asked. "More of that Dreamless Sleep potion maybe?" 

Madam Pomfrey shook her head. "Too much Dreamless Sleep just makes things worse, in the long run. When it wears off, the mind tries to catch up, and the dreams are worse. Extended use will cause them start coming as hallucinations when she's awake." She pulled a vial from the pocket of her robes. "This is a muscle relaxant. It will keep her from hurting herself by thrashing around." She administered the potion, and soon Dawn was lying still. She still kept mumbling things, and crying out, but Buffy's grip on her hand, and the sound of Buffy's voice seemed to calm her. She was soon sleeping quietly again. 

* * *

Dumbledore came back into the hospital wing that morning, accompanied by Dobby levitating five breakfast trays. Buffy's stomach started to rumble. She'd lost track of the last time she'd eaten a proper meal. Dumbledore conjured up a table on which three of the trays were placed, and invited Buffy and Kennedy to join him. The last two trays were placed on the tables beside Willow and Harry's beds. 

"So, how are things going in the rest of the world?" asked Buffy quietly as she ate the omelette that had been prepared for her. 

"The wizarding world woke up to find that the _Daily Prophet_ had put out a Special Early Edition." Dumbledore placed the newspaper on the table in front of Buffy. She could see that half the front page was taken up the headline: "VOLDEMORT SLAIN!" 

"Wow!" said Buffy. "They printed his name!" 

Dumbledore smiled. "Yes, and that is the best indication there is that this time, he is truly dead." 

"The body wasn't enough?" asked Kennedy. 

"When dealing with a wizard as steeped in Dark Magic as Voldemort, no, I'm afraid that sometimes even having the body isn't enough." 

Buffy looked at the headline again. "Wait a minute: 'SLAIN'? They don't think a Slayer did it, do they?" 

"They don't know," said Dumbledore, "But it seems that they have discovered that a Slayer was in some way involved. There are also rumours attributing it to Harry, Miss Rosenberg, and myself. Cornelius is trying to claim that it was a crack team of Ministry Aurors who were responsible." 

"Typical," came a voice from the direction of Harry's bed. 

Everyone turned to look at him. "Harry! You're awake! How are you feeling?" 

"I'm feeling that I'm getting entirely too used to waking up in this place," said Harry, "And that your breakfasts smell delicious." 

"Oh!" Buffy got up and slid the hospital table over his bed, while Professor Dumbledore adjusted the bed to raise Harry into a sitting position. She lifted the warming lid from his tray. "Here's yours." 

"He's really dead?" asked Harry. He saw Buffy, Dumbledore and Kennedy all nod. "And everyone else— Oh god! Willow!" 

"Willow's going to be fine." Buffy pointed across Dawn's bed to where Willow was still sleeping. "Looks like that was a really good shield spell she was using. Voldemort only knocked her out." 

Harry's eyes came to rest on Dawn. "How's she doing?" 

"She's doing okay," said Buffy. "Madam Pomfrey is keeping her asleep, so she can recover quicker, but she should be ready to wake up tonight." 

"And Ron, Hermione and Ginny?" asked Harry. 

"They are well enough that I had to lock them out of here until after you have had your breakfast," said Professor Dumbledore. "The sooner you eat, the sooner you can see them." 

"Can't you people keep quiet, and let a girl sleep?" asked Willow. 

* * *

Harry and Willow refused to eat their breakfasts in bed. They both got up and joined Buffy, Kennedy and Dumbledore around the table. Harry was half way through his breakfast when an image flashed through his mind. An image of Buffy's face, looking scared, and with it the memory of being full of hate and loathing for everyone, and everything around him. He remembered that he had just killed Voldemort, and he knew that what Buffy had been afraid of in that instant was him. He stopped eating, and pushed his plate away. 

Buffy looked at him, her face full of concern. "What's the problem?" 

"How can you look at me like that?" asked Harry. 

"Like what?" 

"Like you are now? You saw what I did to Voldemort. You saw what I can do. I saw that it scared you. But now you act like nothing happened." 

Buffy reached out and put her hand on his. "Harry, if I turned away from my friends, just because they happened to have killed someone who needed killing, I wouldn't have many friends left. And I've killed people too, and if my friends had turned away from me, I wouldn't have _any_ friends left. I know what it feels like to kill someone. Every time I think about any of the people I've killed, I feel sick inside." 

"But you were afraid of me." 

"I wasn't afraid of you. I was afraid of what may have happened to you. Taking Voldemort's magic like that—absorbing so much dark magic—it can corrupt a person. But you didn't let that happen. You could just as easily have killed everyone in that room. You could have set yourself up as the new Dark Lord, but you didn't let that happen." 

"It happened to me," said Willow. "A couple of years ago…I let the magic take control of me. I killed people. I nearly killed Buffy and Giles. I almost destroyed the world. I would have, if Xander hadn't stopped me." 

Harry looked at Dumbledore. "You knew about that?" He saw Dumbledore nod. "Then why did you start to teach me? If this sort of magic is so dangerous." 

"Leaving you untaught was the greater danger," said Professor Dumbledore. "Miss Rosenberg lost control because she did not have a sufficient appreciation of the hazards of what she was doing, and she made some bad choices. 

"I told you once, Harry, that it isn't our abilities that make us good people, or bad. It is our choices. You continue to make the good choices." 

"But I feel so…ill," said Harry. "Thinking about it, I want to throw up." 

"Good," said Buffy. 

"Good?" 

"Yes Harry. Good. It's when you _stop_ feeling ill about doing things like what you did to Voldemort, that I'll start to worry about you." 

* * *

Madam Pomfrey examined Harry and Willow again after breakfast, and pronounced Willow fit to leave the hospital. She wanted Harry to stay for another day though. She gave Kennedy a sharp look. "I think you and Miss Rosenberg could both do with some more rest though." 

"Your room has been prepared for you," said Professor Dumbledore. "On your way out, why don't you tell the young people waiting in the hall that they can come in and see Harry now." 

"And I want you two to _rest,_" said Madam Pomfrey when she saw the way Willow and Kennedy were looking at each other. 

"Spoilsport," muttered Kennedy as she and Willow left the room. 

Ron, Hermione and Ginny came charging in just after Willow and Kennedy left. They were brought to a sudden halt by the way Madam Pomfrey was glaring at them. "Take it easy, you lot. There are still sick people here." She cast a significant look toward the bed that Dawn was sleeping in. 

"Oh, sorry Madam," whispered Hermione. "We'll be quiet." 

"See that you do." Madam Pomfrey returned to her office. 

Giles had followed the kids into the room. He looked at Dawn in her bed. "How is she?" 

"Madam Pomfrey says she'll be fine," said Buffy. She returned to her seat beside Dawn's bed, and took hold of her hand again. 

"You haven't slept for two days," said Giles. "Why don't you get some rest?" 

"I couldn't," said Buffy. 

"We'll watch Dawn," said Harry. "Call you if there's any change." 

"I want to be here." 

"At least lie down in one of these beds," said Giles. "You'll still be here if she needs you." 

Buffy let herself be talked into lying down "for just a few minutes." She was unconscious thirty seconds after her head touched the pillow. 


	56. Recovery

Dawn awoke slowly. She knew she was in a comfortable bed, with warm blankets tucked snugly around her, but it didn't feel like her bed. She felt like she had been asleep for a long time. It had been a sleep full of nightmares of torture, and freezing cold, and being held paralysed, unable to move as various horrors were visited upon her. She opened her eyes, afraid of what she would see. Maybe the warm bed was some sort of delusion. She'd read that sometimes people freezing to death started to feel warm again, toward the end. She was greatly relieved when she recognised the Hogwarts hospital wing, dimly lit by the candles burning in their sconces on the walls. She turned her head a bit and saw the top of a blonde head. She knew that it belonged to Buffy. She had fallen asleep in a chair beside Dawn's bed, and leaning on Dawn's mattress. Dawn didn't think that it looked like a very comfortable position. 

Buffy wasn't sleeping very soundly. Dawn's slight motion had woken her up. She lifted her head, and turned a couple of bleary eyes toward her sister. "Hey, sleepyhead. How you feeling?" 

Dawn was trying to figure that out for herself. She wasn't feeling any pain…she really wasn't feeling much of anything. Other than a simple sensation of overall warmth, she was kinda numb. She decided that warmth was something that she had been taking entirely too much for granted for most of her life. "Everything considered…I feel pretty good." 

"Madam Pomfrey has given you all sorts of healing, and warming, and pain killer type potions, so you should be feeling pretty good," said Buffy. 

Dawn tried to move a bit more, and felt that her limbs didn't seem to be responding the way they should. That worried her. "Uh…Buffy…I can't move!" 

Buffy reached out and stroked her hair. "Hey, it's okay. You're going to be fine. She also gave you some muscle relaxants. You were having nightmares, and thrashing around too much to heal properly." Buffy reached for a small vial on the table beside the bed. "Here, she said to give you the antidote for it as soon as you woke up." 

Buffy put an arm around Dawn's shoulders to help her sit up. "Sorry. Non-magical me can't get your bed to work. You need a wand to adjust it." She lifted the vial to Dawn's lips, and her sister drank the sweet potion. 

Dawn felt a tingly sensation moving out from her stomach. The numbness she had been feeling was slipping away, and she became aware of the twinges and aches from her various injuries. She wasn't feeling any pain, but she started to feel like her body was there again. "How long was I gone?" 

"You were taken a couple of days ago," said Buffy. 

"Is that all?" asked Dawn. "Felt like longer." 

Buffy frowned. "You were only gone for about a day. You've been sleeping for more than twenty-four hours now, since you got back." 

"So, uh, what day is it?" 

Buffy stopped and thought for a bit. "I seem to have lost track." She started mumbling under her breath, and counting off days on her fingers. "Uh…Friday evening…I think." 

Dawn remembered something Buffy had said earlier. "Oh god! My wand! I lost my wand!" She thought for a moment that she had lost something more important than that, but she couldn't remember what it was. 

"Hey! Hey! It's okay! We found it!" Buffy picked Dawn's wand up off the bedside table and held it in front of her. "See?" 

"Oh, thank god!" Dawn reached out for her wand…and noticed for the first time that the fingers of her right hand were wrapped in bandages. She froze, looking at them. The memory of seeing her bloody stump, and the pain of it, came flooding back. She couldn't move her hand, or say anything. She just stared at it. She thought she could feel her finger, under the bandages, but she knew that couldn't be right. Maybe it was like those phantom pains that she'd heard of amputees having. Then she saw that she seemed to have all four fingers still attached, with the littlest one bound by the bandages to her ring finger. "My finger," she finally whispered. 

Buffy gently took hold of Dawn's wrist, and pressed her hand back down onto the blanket. "I know," she said. "Madam Pomfrey does good work. She says it should be almost good as new in a week or so." She grinned at her sister. "Coulda used her back in Sunnydale, a time or two, let me tell you." 

"What?" asked Dawn. "You mean it's back?" 

"Yes, Dawn, it's back. She re-attached it." 

"How did you… How'd you find it?" 

A very hard expression crossed Buffy's face. "It wasn't difficult. Voldemort mailed it to us." 

"Oh god…I almost told him! If I hadn't thought of how to lie with the truth, I would have told him! If he tries again…I can't go through that again!" 

"You don't have to worry about Voldemort any more." Buffy nodded across Dawn's bed. "You can thank him for that." 

"What?" Dawn turned her head, and saw that hers wasn't the only occupied bed in the hospital. Harry was in the bed next to hers. "Harry! What happened to him?" 

"He's fine!" said Buffy. "He's just sleeping. We've been taking turns sitting with you, but Madam Pomfrey slipped him a mickey in the form of a hot chocolate about an hour ago. He should be out until morning." Buffy yawned. 

Dawn smiled at her. "Harry isn't the only one she should have slipped a mickey to." 

"She tried, but Harry drank his first, and like I've been telling people for two days now, sleeplessness is part of the Slayer gig. I'll be going to sleep soon. I just got a couple more things to take care of." Buffy picked up a small silver bell, and rang it. 

"What was that?" asked Dawn. 

"First item of business," said Buffy. There was a _crack_ that at first Dawn thought might be Trei, but it turned out to be Dobby and Winky with a couple of trays of food. Buffy frowned at them. "I don't think she's _that_ hungry." 

"This tray is for you, Miss Buffy," said Winky. "Dobby has Miss Dawn's tray." 

Dawn's stomach rumbled, and she realized that she was really hungry. "And if Buffy doesn't want hers, I think I might be that hungry." 

Dobby set Dawn's tray on the bed table, and adjusted the bed to lift her up into a sitting position. Winky put Buffy's tray on the table beside Dawn's. "If the young Misses need anything more, ring for us." The House Elves disapparated away. 

Dawn picked up her fork with her left hand. She saw that her food had already been cut up into nice bite sized pieces. She started to shovel the meal into her mouth. "So, what did you mean about not having to worry about Voldemort?" she asked around a mouth full of food. 

"Remember that prophecy?" asked Buffy. "The one that said that Harry or Voldemort had to die, that one would kill the other?" 

"Yeah," said Dawn. 

"Well, now we know which one lives. Moldywart is toast." 

"You mean…" 

"Harry killed him." 

"You sure?" asked Dawn. "People thought he was dead once before." 

"This time we're pretty sure," said Buffy. "Dumbledore was there, and he's pretty sure too, and Willow isn't going to be bringing him back." 

Buffy told Dawn about their attack on Voldemort while they ate their dinner. She left out a few of the details, such as how close they had come to losing Willow, and her own taste of the Cruciatus curse, but she hit most of the other high points. She also didn't mention the brief glimpse she'd had of Harry while he was under the influence of all the power he had sucked out of Voldemort. 

Dawn was yawning when she finished her meal. Buffy knew that Madam Pomfrey had laced Dawn's pumpkin juice with a mild sedative. Nothing that would put her out, but enough to make her want to go back to sleep again. She rang the bell to summon back the House Elves to clean up their dinner, and to flatten out Dawn's bed again. Buffy was yawning again herself, and she wondered if Madam Pomfrey had slipped something into her drink too. She doubted it. The few hours of sleep that she'd had that day just hadn't been enough to make up for not having slept for the two days before that. Once Dawn was settled down she went to lie down herself in the bed next to her. 

* * *

Dawn was joined for breakfast the next morning by Harry and Buffy. Madam Pomfrey told her that there were several more people who wanted to see her, but she was limiting additional visitors to two at a time, for no more than half an hour each, and with lots of breaks in between. Dawn found out later that Eric had tried to set up a "visit Dawn" lottery, but Dumbledore had put his foot down, and forbidden it. 

There was an unexpected visitor about mid morning. She came in, accompanied by Professor Dumbledore, just as Madam Pomfrey was chasing Willow and Kennedy out. Madam Pomfrey looked like she'd like to chase them out too, but Tonks said that she was there in her official capacity as an Auror. Her hair was the least garish colour Dawn had ever seen it: a sort of red not much more intense than Willow's or one of the Weasleys'. 

A look from Tonks made Buffy get out of her chair beside Dawn's bed. She sat on the edge of the bed she'd been sleeping in while Tonks took over the chair. "I know you've been through a lot," she told Dawn, "but it's best for us to do this while it's still fresh in your mind. We can do it later if you want, but I'd like to get your statement about what happened to you, as soon as possible." 

"No, that's okay," said Dawn. "I'd like— I'd like to talk about it." That was one thing that was bothering her. How everyone was skirting around talking about what had been done to her. "I think I need to talk about it." 

"Okay," said Tonks. She started pulling items from her pockets. The first was a blank scroll of parchment, and the second was a quill. "This is certified quotation quill. It will keep a record of everything we say, once we start." 

"Is that like a Quick Quotes Quill?" asked Harry, who was still there by virtue of his being a patient too. He didn't sound happy. 

Tonks gave him a sour smile. "_My_ quill is certified accurate, and has to be recertified before any witness statements taken by it since its last certification can be admitted in court. It is _not_ one of those 'Quick Quotes' abominations." 

Harry sank back into his bed, looking chagrinned. "Sorry." 

"No, I'm sorry," said Tonks. "I remember some of the nonsense that Skeeter woman used to write about you, but once Dawn and I start, I'll have to ask that the rest of you keep quiet." She looked back and forth between Harry and Buffy, and saw them nod. 

Tonks pulled a glass sphere out of her pocket next, and placed it on the table in front of Dawn. She saw Dawn stiffen. "Is there a problem?" 

"Is that a Veriloquus Sphere?" asked Dawn. She didn't sound at all happy about it, which surprised Tonks a lot. Usually the only people who objected to Veriloquus Spheres were the crooks who were trying to put something over on her. 

"Yes, it is," said Tonks. "Do you have a problem with it?" 

"No," said Dawn. "It's just that _he_ had one, when he was questioning me." 

"Oh!" Tonks quickly snatched the green glowing sphere back, and put it into her pocket. "We don't really need it for most of this. We can save it for the end, when you swear that you have given true testimony." 

"No, put it back," said Dawn. "It just reminded me, is all. And that's what we're here to do, right?" 

"Right." Tonks replaced the sphere on the table, and activated her quill. "Let's start at the beginning. How were you taken?" The quill flew across the parchment, copying down her question. 

Dawn went through the story of how she had been out for her jog, and then woken up in the cell, and how the man in the robes had questioned her about the Key. 

"The Key?" asked Tonks. 

Dawn looked uncertainly toward Professor Dumbledore. 

"It is an artefact of great power that Voldemort coveted," said Dumbledore. "Beyond that you do not need to know." 

Tonks seemed to accept that, but Dawn could see she was curious to learn more. Dawn started to describe what happened next. She saw several grim faces as she described the effects of that first Cruciatus curse. "…and then I told him to sod off!" 

Tonks' sphere flashed yellow for an instant, and she raised an eyebrow at Dawn, without saying anything. 

"Okay…I used a word that Mom used to tell me I wasn't ever supposed to use, but it meant the same thing," said Dawn. The sphere shone a nice steady green this time. 

"Okay," said Tonks with a smile. "What happened then?" 

Dawn described a couple more rounds of being tortured by the Cruciatus curse, until she had passed out from the pain, and then being awoken by sprays of ice cold water. "And I couldn't take it anymore…so I had to tell him. I told him that Professor Dumbledore had told me that the Key was in his office. He wanted to know where, so I told him it moved around, and then he made me describe it. I told him it was a glowing green energy." Dawn watched Tonks' sphere all through that, and saw that it kept flickering to yellow, but Tonks seemed to be ignoring it. 

The sphere went back to its solid green glow as she described how her finger had been cut off, and then how Trei had found her, and she'd been brought back to Hogwarts. 

"So, can you describe the person who tortured you?" asked Tonks. 

"Not really," said Dawn. "He always wore those robes, and mask." 

"Tall or short?" 

"Um…tall, I think, but I was mostly lying on the floor, so it was hard to tell." 

"Fat or skinny?" 

"Kinda…medium? Sorry I can't tell you more." 

"That's okay," said Tonks. "You're sure it was a man?" 

"Pretty sure," said Dawn. "Sure sounded like one." 

"Always the same man?" asked Tonks. "They weren't sending in different people to question you?" 

"No," said Dawn. "It was always him. I'll never forget that voice." 

"Alright, just one more thing," said Tonks. "Do you swear that you have given me a complete and accurate account of what happened to you?" 

"I do," said Dawn. She smiled at the glowing green sphere. 

"Okay." Tonks picked up the scroll of parchment that her quill had been furiously transcribing their conversation on. "I need you to read this over, and then sign the bit at the bottom, where it says that you agree that this is an accurate transcript of our conversation." 

"Alright." Dawn started reading. She quickly saw that the pen hadn't just recorded her words. It had also recorded all the variations in the colour of the Veriloquus Sphere, by underlining each passage in the appropriate colours. When she got to the section where she talked about what she had finally told the Death Eater she saw that while the entire passage was underlined in green, there were additional underlines in shades of green and yellow under what she had told the Death Eater. The second underline got downright orange when it came to her description of the Key. 

Dawn signed her name when she got to the end, and handed the scroll and the quill back to Tonks. "I don't understand," she said. "_His_ sphere only flashed red and green. It didn't do any of the other shades." 

"Good thing for you," said Tonks. "It takes training and practice to use a Veriloquus properly. If you don't know what you're doing with them, they're pretty stupid, and easy to fool. A skilled operator can detect all sorts of variations in truthfulness: fibs, half truths, boasts, exaggerations and evasions. I don't know where this Key thing is now, or what it looks like, but I know that you knew that it wasn't in Dumbledore's office when you were answering those questions, even if he had told you it was there. And it might have been green glowing energy, once upon a time, but it isn't now." 

"I wish I could describe him for you, so you could tell which one he was…if you've got him," said Dawn. 

"Oh, you've told me plenty. With this…" Tonks held up the scroll. "…I'm ninety-five percent sure I know who it was. I'll be back tomorrow for the last five percent." 

"How?" asked Dawn. "I couldn't describe him." 

"_Prior Incantato,_" said Tonks. 

"Of course!" said Harry. 

Buffy waved her hand. "Care to explain a little more for the magically challenged?" 

"_Prior Incantato_ can be used to tell what spells a wand has been used to cast," said Harry. "Find the wand that cast those spells on Dawn, and you've got the wizard!" 

"Yep," said Tonks, "And we've got a wand with some _Crucios,_ _Aqueous,_ _Mobilicorpus,_ and a _Stupefy_ on it. The Death Eater it belongs to is in the prison hospital ward with a cracked skull right now. Looks like someone hit him pretty hard with a big stick." 

"Not hard enough, apparently," muttered Buffy. 

"Yes, well, he'll probably try to claim that someone else used his wand, since even if he isn't the one who did it to Dawn, three _Crucios_ will get him life in Azkaban, regardless." She looked at Dawn. "I'll be back tomorrow with some recordings of his voice, and then we'll really nail this bastard to the wall." Tonks pocketed her Veriloquus Sphere, and got up from her seat. "Until then, get some rest, and get better." 

"I will. Thank you." 

Madam Pomfrey escorted Tonks and Dumbledore back out of the ward. Buffy turned to Dawn as soon as they were gone. "I'm so sorry that had to happen to you. It must have been even worse than I imagined." 

"Don't be sorry, Buffy," said Dawn. "It wasn't your fault." 

"I'm supposed to take care of you." 

"We've covered this a few times already. You can't protect me all the time." 

"Besides, she was never really in any danger," said Harry. 

Buffy and Dawn both looked at him. "_What?_" 

Harry shrugged. "It wasn't Tuesday." He had to duck the pillow Dawn threw at him. 


	57. Back to Normal

Madam Pomfrey released Harry and Dawn from the hospital that evening, on the condition that they go straight to bed when they got back to their dorm. Buffy accompanied them back to Gryffindor tower. Her threatening glare made everyone who looked like they might want to approach Harry or Dawn to ask them about what had happened back off. Many of the students had seen some of what Buffy could do during her guest lecturer spots in their DADA classes, and the others had all heard the stories. 

It was harder to keep people away, once they got to the Gryffindor common room. Many of the kids who wanted to ask questions were Harry and Dawn's friends. Ron, Hermione and Ginny hadn't been able to keep from telling some of them about the battle, and those friends had told more friends, so now there were several wildly mutated versions of the story floating around the castle. Ron, Hermione and Ginny had all been unconscious at the end, so they hadn't really been able to tell anyone how it had ended, and there were any number of wild theories about how Voldemort had been killed. They had also downplayed Ginny's part in the entire thing, telling people that she'd just gone along to help Buffy and Kennedy, like the others had. 

Dawn really didn't want to tell anyone about being tortured. She saw the looks of pity that she sometimes got from Buffy and the others who knew, and that was something that she really didn't want getting from anyone else. She wanted to put this whole incident behind her as quickly as possible, and get on with her life. 

For his part, Harry was afraid of how people would react to him when they found out how he had killed Voldemort. He remembered how everyone had reacted back in his second year when people started to suspect that he was the Heir of Slytherin. He didn't want to go through that again. The power he had used to kill Voldemort was something even worse than the _Avada Kedavra_ curse. He figured that the only reason what he did wasn't on the list of Unforgivables was that the Ministry didn't know about it, yet. 

Harry also knew from experience that the longer he put off telling people about what had happened, the worse the rumours would get. Buffy tried to hustle him through the kids who were eagerly waiting for them in the common room, but he wouldn't let her. "Let's get this over with." 

Room was made for Harry, Dawn and Buffy on a sofa near the fire, and Harry and Buffy told the story of the attack on the Death Eaters. Dawn gave Buffy a sharp look when Harry got the part about Buffy being hit by Voldemort's Cruciatus curse. He faltered a bit as he got to the part about Voldemort starting to _Avada Kedavra_ Buffy. 

"So what happened then?" asked Neville, who had been hanging breathlessly on every word. 

"Harry used some of the ancient magic that he's been learning," said Buffy. "It was something that Voldemort had no defense against. He didn't believe it could hurt him, and he was totally unprepared for it. Harry saved my life." 

Everyone wanted to ask more questions, but Buffy put her foot down. She sent Harry off with Ron, with instructions that Ron was to put him to bed. The look she gave Harry's other roommates was enough to quell any thoughts they might've had of further questioning him in their room. 

Buffy, Hermione and Ginny escorted Dawn up to her room. Dawn saw that her Potions homework was still sitting out on her desk, not quite finished yet. "Oh, damn! That was due on Thursday!" 

"Don't worry about it," said Hermione. "I think that even Snape will accept 'I was kidnapped by Death Eaters' as a legitimate excuse for handing it in late." She frowned for a moment. "I'm not sure he'll accept 'my friend was kidnapped by Death Eaters' though." She turned away to her own desk. "I wonder if he'll believe me when I tell him I had it done, but just forgot to hand it in?" She snatched up a scroll and ran from the room. 

* * *

Dawn joined everyone for breakfast in the Great Hall the next morning. The atmosphere in the Hall was light and giddy. Nearly everyone was still talking about the death of Voldemort. The Sunday issue of the _Daily Prophet_ had already arrived, and it had a new account of the events leading up to Voldemort's death, this time not too far off from the one Harry and Buffy had told the night before. Harry knew that someone inside Hogwarts was feeding them information. He hoped it wasn't one of his own housemates. There were enough differences between the _Daily Prophet's_ version, and the version he had told last night that he thought that it had probably been filtered through at least a couple more people before it got to the paper. 

The _Daily Prophet_ had also identified Buffy as the Slayer. She was too well known in some circles for her identity to be kept a secret when her name was being splashed across the paper like that. Even if most wizards had believed that the Slayer was a myth, some of the magical beings that they had regular dealings with, such as the Goblins, knew the truth. The paper also speculated that the second Muggle girl who took part in the assault was the mysterious, dark haired, second Slayer that rumours had been circulating about for years. If the paper's sources knew about all the other Slayers that had been activated around the world, they hadn't mentioned them. 

The only exception to the giddy atmosphere in the Hall was around the Slytherin table. There was a group of students there—centered around Draco Malfoy—who were not happy at all. They were sitting a little separated from their housemates. The tension around them was so thick you could cut it with a knife. 

The Sunday morning post came in, and Yanka delivered a letter to Dawn. She saw that it was from Tonks, and opened it right away. It was a brief message telling her to come to Professor Dumbledore's office at ten o'clock. 

"What's that about?" asked Ron. 

"They want to see if I can identify the voice of the man who questioned me," said Dawn. 

"Do you think you can?" asked Neville. 

"I think so," said Dawn. "I hope so." She really didn't want to talk about that. "So what else does it say in the paper?" 

"They've got a list of the Death Eaters they captured," said Harry. He scanned their names, looking for two in particular. He couldn't find them. "Damn!" 

"What's the matter?" asked Ron. 

"Bellatrix Lestrange, and Peter Pettigrew weren't there," said Harry. "They haven't been caught." The two Death Eaters that he most wanted in custody were still free. 

Dawn rested her hand on Harry's back. "I'm sure they'll be caught soon. With Voldemort gone, what can they do?" 

Harry looked up and saw the grim look on Neville's face. He remembered what Bellatrix had done to Neville's parents after the _first_ time Voldemort had fallen. "They can do quite a lot." 

* * *

Blaise Zabini came across to the Gryffindor table as they were finishing up breakfast. "Hey, Dawn. Professor Snape has given us an extension on our paper. How about we meet in the library in half an hour to get to work on it?" 

"Uh, I can't," said Dawn. "I've got an appointment with an Auror in Professor Dumbledore's office at ten. How about we do it after lunch?" 

"Sure," said Blaise. "That'll work." She turned away, and went back to the Slytherin table…about as far away from Malfoy's clique at it as she could get. 

* * *

Dawn paused on the doorstep to Dumbledore's office. Buffy and Harry and her other friends had all wanted to come with her, but Dawn had asked them not to. She felt that the fewer people watching this the better she'd like it. She was starting to have a few misgivings about her earlier confidence that she would be able to identify the voice of the Death Eater that had tortured her. 

Dawn took a deep breath to steady her nerves, and knocked on the polished oak door. She heard Dumbledore's voice invite her in. She pushed open the door, and stepped through into his office. 

Tonks smiled at her. "Wotcher, Dawn!" 

Dawn gave her a tentative smile back. "Um, hi." She saw that Tonks was standing by one of Dumbledore's tables which had been cleared of its usual collection of incomprehensible silver instruments. In their place was a collection of stoppered glass bottles. There were two dozen of them, laid out in four rows of six. "So, what's this?" 

"Each of these bottles contains a phrase spoken by a wizard," said Tonks. "When I remove the stopper, the words will be released. I'll go down each row, releasing the words, and then when I'm done, you'll tell me if any of the voices you heard belonged to the man who questioned you. I want you to listen to the entire row before you tell me, you understand?" 

"Yep," said Dawn. 

"You ready?" asked Tonks. 

"Yeah." 

"Alright." 

Tonks pulled the stopper out of the first bottle, and Dawn heard the first voice: "The mudblood is finally awake." 

Dawn felt a chill run down her spine, hearing those words again, but the voice wasn't right. Tonks went down the line of bottles, pulling out the stoppers, and she heard the phrase repeated over and over. Each time by a different voice. The third one sounded a bit like what she remembered the voice sounding like, but she wasn't sure. Number five was close too. She was really beginning to doubt if she would really be able to do this. 

Tonks pulled the stopper from the sixth bottle. "The mudblood is finally awake." 

All doubts vanished from Dawn's mind. "That's him! The last one!" 

Tonks wrote down which voice Dawn had picked in a notebook. "Okay, now we do the second row." She pulled the stopper from the bottle. 

This time the phrase spoken by each voice was "The Veriloquus Sphere knows when you lie!" Dawn recognised her torturer the instant the second stopper was pulled, but she waited to hear them all before she told Tonks. 

The third row contained bottles saying "Where is the Key?" Dawn listened to them all. Some of the voices were close, but none of them seemed to fit. Tonks looked at her expectantly after pulling the last stopper. 

"Uh, sorry," said Dawn, "But I'm not sure. A couple of those were close, but I can't really say." 

"That's alright," said Tonks. "One more row. You set?" 

Dawn nodded and Tonks went down the last row, releasing voices. "What does it look like?" they asked her. 

This time Dawn was absolutely sure when she heard the fourth voice that it was the one, and she told Tonks so when she was done. 

Tonks was smiling broadly when she made the final note in her book. "Perfect! Four for four. We are really going to nail this guy!" 

"But what about the third set?" asked Dawn. "I couldn't pick him out of it." 

"That's because he wasn't there," said Tonks. "That was a test to see if you were trying so hard to hear his voice, that you would hear it even if it wasn't there." 

"So, um, who is he?" asked Dawn. "No one has told me his name." 

"Yes, well, we didn't want to identify him until we were sure," said Tonks. "No offense, but people are leaking information like sieves on this one. We wouldn't want to accuse the wrong man of something like this." She gave Professor Dumbledore a look, and saw him nod slightly. "His name is Aloysius Zabini." 

"Zabini?" asked Dawn. She looked at Professor Dumbledore. "Is he related to Blaise?" 

"I believe he is an uncle of hers," said Professor Dumbledore. 

* * *

Dawn entered the library after lunch, feeling a little trepidation. She had looked over the list of names of the arrested Death Eaters in the _Daily Prophet_ and saw that Aloysius Zabini was listed there, right at the bottom. She thought back to the way that Blaise had been acting at breakfast, and again at lunch, and didn't really notice any difference. Blaise was always quiet, not drawing attention to herself. She had few friends. She didn't seem to really belong to any cliques, even among the Slytherins, who were the most cliquish house in the school. She wasn't really shunned either. Blaise was able to join in a conversation with just about anyone, and while she was there, people talked to her, but as soon as she left people seemed to almost forget she had been there at all. Dawn could relate to that. That was how she remembered the first fourteen years of her life being: the girl everyone forgot. Of course with Blaise it was a case of people really forgetting her, not an effort cutting measure on the part of some monks who didn't want to have to create detailed memories of Dawn in hundreds of people. 

Blaise was already sitting at one of the tables, surrounded by reference books. Dawn took a deep breath and crossed the library to her. "Hi Blaise, sorry I'm late." She set her computer down on the table. 

"It's okay," said Blaise. "I've only been here a couple of minutes." 

Dawn looked over the books on the table as she sat down. "Looks like you've been here longer than that." She also noticed that there was a folded copy of the _Daily Prophet_ on the table. "So, you saw the list of people who got arrested?" 

"Yeah…" Blaise started to look a little nervous. 

"I noticed there's an Aloysius Zabini on the list." 

Blaise seemed to shrink into herself. "He's my uncle," she mumbled. 

"I'd heard that," said Dawn. 

"So, now are you going to run away from the Death Eater's niece?" 

"Wasn't planning on it." 

"It doesn't bother you?" asked Blaise. 

"Should it?" 

"A lot of people have been avoiding me for the last couple of days," said Blaise. 

"I was actually more worried about how you were feeling about me," said Dawn. "It was my friends, and sister, who captured him." 

"I'm happy they did," said Blaise. "I hope they lock him up for a long time. Uncle A-Zed always made me feel creepy whenever he came to visit. The way he used to look at me…" She suppressed a shudder. 

"'A-Zed'?" asked Dawn. 

"That's what he liked to have people call him," said Blaise. "Said he had the alphabet covered from A to Zed." 

"With any luck, he's going away for a long time," said Dawn. 

Blaise looked at her. "You know something." 

"Yeah, I do, but I'm not supposed to talk to anyone about it," said Dawn. 

"Is that what the meeting with the Auror was about?" asked Blaise. 

"I'm not supposed to talk about it," said Dawn. 

"Does it have anything to do with why your hand is all bandaged up?" 

"I bashed my finger in a door." 

"If that's all it was, Madam Pomfrey would have fixed it in about five minutes," said Blaise. 

"It was a big door," said Dawn. 

* * *

Classes resumed, more or less as normal, on Monday. While it hadn't been officially declared, Friday had turned into an unofficial holiday throughout the wizarding world. Buffy and the others stayed on at the school for another week, and the DADA classes got lectures on the history of the Slayer, since her and Kennedy's identities were out of the bag. The DA got to see what it looked like when two Slayers who weren't holding back (much) sparred with each other. Ginny's OWL exams were approaching, so her training sessions were cut back, to give her the extra time she needed for studying. 

March gave way to April, and the weather continued to warm. The Ravenclaw vs. Slytherin Quidditch match was a total blowout, with Ravenclaw winning 330 to 20. That dashed any hopes that Harry had for Gryffindor to win the cup. They'd have to beat Ravenclaw by more than 390 points to do that, and Ravenclaw had much too good a team for them to hope for that. Harry decided that he'd just have to console himself by _winning_ the final game. 

The _Daily Prophet_ continued to print reports of the arrests of more Death Eaters, as those already in custody turned on their fellows in the hopes of negotiating lighter sentences for themselves. Harry scanned each new story hoping for word of Bellatrix Lestrange, or Peter Pettigrew, but they remained at large. It was a big world, and Harry knew how easy it was for a wizard who wanted to stay hidden to do so. As April slipped into May the _Daily Prophet_ started to announce trial dates. One of the first was for Aloysius Zabini. 


	58. The Trial

Tonks arrived at Grimmauld place early, to escort Dawn and Buffy to the Ministry of Magic. Dawn had flooed from Hogwarts the afternoon before, and met Buffy there. They had spent the evening together, having a 'sister's night' out on the town. 

Tonks had come early enough for them all to go out for breakfast together. While Kreacher was doing a much better job at keeping the house clean than he had been, no one really trusted him to cook yet. Besides, Tonks enjoyed the novelty of eating in a Muggle restaurant from time to time. Unlike many wizards she wasn't completely lost when moving around in the Muggle world. Her father was a Muggle and she had grown up with lots of exposure to it. 

They took the underground to central London after they had finished their breakfasts. They got off the train, and rode the escalator up to a busy road in the heart of the city. Tonks led them for a few blocks down a side street, into a much dingier part of London. The buildings were less imposing here, and there was graffiti written on the walls. She took them to an old phone booth, with broken panes of glass in it. "Get in." 

Buffy looked around uncertainly. "You sure this is the place." 

Dawn got into the phone booth. "Harry told me about this, Buffy. Think 'Get Smart'." 

"Alright." Buffy still didn't look like she thought it was a good idea, but she followed Dawn into the booth. 

Tonks came in last, and struggled to close the door. It was a tight fit with all three of them inside the booth. She lifted the receiver on the ancient looking telephone. She muttered the numbers under her breath as she twisted the rotary dial. "Six…two…four…four…two!" She replaced the receiver. 

A woman's voice filled the phone booth. "Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business." 

"Auror Tonks, escorting Dawn Summers, witness for the Zabini trial, and Buffy Summers," said Tonks clearly. 

"Thank you," said the voice. "Visitors, please take the badges and attach them to the fronts of your robes." 

A couple of square silver badges rattled out of the coin return slot. Tonks took them, and after a glance to tell which was which, she handed the correct badges to Buffy and Dawn. Dawn looked at her badge and saw that it read 'Dawn Summers, Zabini Trial Witness.' She looked at the badge that Buffy was pinning to her jacket. It simply read 'Buffy Summers, Visitor.' 

"Visitors to the Ministry, you are required to submit to a search and present your wands for registration at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the Atrium," said the voice as the phone booth started to shudder. Dawn felt herself sinking, and watched the ground start to rise up around them. 

They were soon encased in total darkness, and Dawn discovered that she had acquired a bit of a case of claustrophobia during her recent experience. She felt her heart start to race, and she started to gasp for air. 

"Are you okay?" asked Buffy. 

"Can't breath!" said Dawn. She knew she was being silly, but she couldn't keep her rising panic at bay. 

Buffy's arms went around her. "Hey, you're going to be okay. It won't be long. It won't be long, right?" 

"We're almost there," said Tonks. "Sorry, if I'd known, we could have come in by floo." 

Buffy's arms were helping to calm her. "No, I'm okay," gasped Dawn. "I'm just being stupid." 

"You're not stupid," said Buffy. "Uh…maybe a little light might help?" 

"Of course!" Dawn felt Tonks try to reach for her wand in the cramped space, but a golden sliver of light appeared down by their feet before she could get it out. It quickly grew as the telephone booth dropped down into the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic. It came to a stop, and the door sprang open. 

"The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant day," said the woman's voice. 

Dawn pushed her way out of the phone booth as quickly as she could. She stood trembling, and gulping in deep breaths of air. 

"Are you alright?" asked Buffy. "We don't need to do this." 

Dawn had her breathing under control again. "Yes we do. I'm fine…I was just having a bit of a flashback there." She held out her hand—it was still trembling a bit. "See…everything's under control." 

"You'll be fine," said Tonks. She reached into her purse and pulled out a set of Dawn's school robes. She gave them a brief shake to make the wrinkles disappear before she handed them to Dawn. "Here, put these on. You want to make the right sort of impression for the jury." Dawn started to put on her robes as Tonks pulled out a set of her own Auror's robes. She put them on while Dawn was attaching her name tag. 

Dawn looked around the Atrium while Tonks led them toward the security desk. Witches and wizards were bustling back and forth across it, to and from the rows of fireplaces that lined the sides. There were frequent _cracks_ of people apparating. The most prominent feature seemed to be a large tent in the middle of the floor. Dawn saw the sign beside it as they passed: 'The Fountain of Magical Brethren—Grand re-unveiling coming June 12.' 

Tonks took Buffy and Dawn to the security desk near the golden doors that the witches and wizards were passing through. "Wotcher, Eric!" 

"'Allo Tonks," said the bored looking wizard behind the desk. "Who do we have here?" 

"A witness for the Zabini trial," said Tonks, "and her sister." 

"Step over here," the wizard told Buffy and Dawn, indicating a space beside his desk. They did as they were told, and he waved a long golden rod around them. Dawn felt like she was going through airport security. 

The wizard put away the rod, and held out his hand. "Wands?" 

Dawn handed over her wand, and he placed it on a brass tray of a strange instrument on his desk. It started to vibrate, and disgorged a slip of parchment. He ripped it off, and read the writing on in. "Ebony, nine and a half inches, hair of a Slayer?" He blinked, and lost his bored expression. He looked up at Dawn. "Is that right?" 

"Yep," said Dawn. "Is there a problem?" 

"Er…uh…no." He stuck the parchment on a brass spike, gave Dawn her wand back, and held out his hand to Buffy. "Your wand?" 

"Sorry," said Buffy. "No wand." 

The wizard looked more surprised. "You're a Muggle?" 

"Not exactly," Buffy tilted her head toward Dawn. "It's my hair." 

"Er…" The wizard seemed to be at a complete loss for words. 

Tonks put her hands on Buffy's and Dawn's shoulders. "Come on." She started to guide them toward the doors. "Can't keep the Wizengamot waiting, Eric!" she tossed back over her shoulder to the security wizard. 

Tonks took Dawn and Buffy through into a smaller chamber with a bank of about twenty antique looking elevators, with golden grilles for doors. She hesitated for a moment. "If the lift's a problem for you, we can take the stairs," she told Dawn. 

Dawn shook her head. "No…no problem," she told Tonks. She sounded like she was trying to convince herself as much as the witch. 

"Okay, this way." Tonks pressed the button for a down elevator. 

"Farther down?" asked Buffy. 

"'Fraid so," said Tonks. 

The grille opened, and Tonks indicated that Buffy and Dawn should enter. Another wizard made to follow them, but a look from Tonks made him stop. "I'll catch the next lift," he mumbled, as he stepped back. 

Tonks smiled at him. "Thanks." She followed Buffy and Dawn into the elevator, and the grille closed behind her. She looked at Dawn, who had her eyes closed, and was breathing deeply, like for her meditation exercise. "You okay?" 

"I'm okay," said Dawn. "It's just…six by six rooms with bars on the doors are no longer on my list of favourite things." 

"We're only going down one floor," said Tonks. 

The voice from the phone booth announced "Department of Mysteries." The grille opened again. 

Tonks took Dawn and Buffy down a bare hall, with no doors or windows, except for a plain black door at the far end. Dawn thought that they would go through it, but Tonks took them through an opening that Dawn hadn't seen on the left. It led to a stairway, taking them farther down. It reminded Dawn of the stairway leading down to Snape's dungeon. It took them into a long, dark hallway, with heavy wooden doors spaced along it. 

Tonks opened one of the doors, and waved Dawn and Buffy through it. It admitted them into a comfortable waiting room, with soft chairs for people to sit in, and a large picture window looking out over a mountain valley. Dawn went to the window. "I thought we were underground? And in the middle of London." 

"We are," said Tonks. "It's a magic window. Maintenance must be in a good mood, the view down here is usually something dismal." 

"We can't watch the trial?" asked Dawn. 

"Not until after you've finished your testimony," said Tonks. "Wouldn't want the defense claiming that your testimony was tainted by hearing that of other witnesses." She looked at Buffy. "You can watch if you want." 

"No, I'll wait here with Dawn, if that's okay." 

"That's fine," said Tonks. "We'll have someone show you to the visitor's gallery, when it comes time for Dawn. It shouldn't be long, she's scheduled to be one of the first witnesses." 

Dawn sat down, and leafed through the pile of magazines on the table in front of her. It seemed that wizard waiting rooms weren't much different from Muggle ones. There wasn't a single magazine in the pile more recent than six months old. She picked up an old copy of _Which Broomstick_. The cover article was proclaiming the virtues of the 'brand new' Nimbus 2002…the broom that Ginny had gotten used from Oliver Wood. 

She had barely started to read the article when another wizard in Auror's robes came into the room. "Dawn Summers?" he asked. 

Dawn put down her magazine. "That's me." 

"Would you come with me, please?" 

"Okay." Dawn looked around at Buffy and Tonks. "See you later." She got up and followed the wizard out of the room. She was a little surprised to see Mad Eye Moody in the hall outside, but he merely nodded a greeting to her. The wizard escorting her seemed to shy away from him a bit as they passed. 

Dawn was shown into the court room. She had been told what to expect by Harry. She found herself in a large square room with no windows. It was lit by torches burning in brackets on the stone walls. All of the walls were lined with tiers of benches, and it didn't look like there was a single vacancy. She caught a bit of motion out of the corner of her eye, and when she looked she saw some rather annoyed looking witches and wizards making a little more room for Mad Eye Moody and Buffy. It seemed that no one wanted to argue with the retired Auror. 

The wizard escorting Dawn took her to a slightly raised box on the right side of the court room, looking across to the benches on which the jury was sitting. The witches and wizards of the Wizengamot were sitting to her right. Dawn was feeling butterflies the size of bats in her stomach as she stood in front of the chair, and looked around. They were calmed a bit by seeing the smiling and confidant face of Professor Dumbledore in the center of the front row of judges. She saw other witches and wizards seated behind tables to her left, and in a chair in the center of the room was Aloysius Zabini. 

"Raise your wand hand," said the Auror who had brought Dawn in. She did so. "Do you swear the testimony that you are about to give to be the truth?" he asked. 

"I do." 

"You may be seated," said the Auror. 

A witch, also dressed in Auror's robes, rose from behind one of the tables. Dawn recognised Amelia Bones, the head of Magical Law Enforcement, from pictures she'd seen in the _Daily Prophet_. "Please state your name and address, for the record." 

"Dawn Summers, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." 

"Your permanent address," said Ms. Bones. 

"Uh…well, it used to be 1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale California, but that's kinda under water now," said Dawn. "We hadn't really settled down anywhere new before I got invited to Hogwarts." There was a bit of light laughter from around the room. 

"I think we can accept 'Hogwarts' as Miss Summers' address," said Professor Dumbledore. 

"Yes, Your Honour," Ms Bones inclined her head slightly toward the Professor. Dawn wondered for a bit about what she had called him. She had seen some British courtroom dramas, and knew that their judges were usually called 'My Lord,' but on further reflection that title sounded very…Muggle to her; and she could almost hear the 'u' that got added to distinguish the title from that of an American judge. 

Ms Bones turned her attention back to Dawn. "Could you please, in your own words, describe the events that took place, starting on the afternoon of Wednesday, March twenty-fourth?" 

Dawn told the story again of how she had been kidnapped, and then tortured for information about the location of the Key. Amelia Bones sometimes prompted her to provide a little more detail, and guided her through the sequence of events, but she mostly let Dawn tell the story with few interruptions. 

When Dawn was finished the Auror who had brought her into the courtroom brought out a small table that had half a dozen familiar looking bottles on it. Ms Bones asked her to listen carefully to all of them, and then she moved down the row, lifting lids. Dawn almost smiled when she heard the first voice: "'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves." 

Her urge to smile went away when the forth lid was lifted: "And the mome raths outgrabe." She started to wonder if she could ever read or listen to Jabberwocky again, and enjoy it. 

Ms Bones lifted the final lid: "The jaws that bite. The claws that catch." "Was one of those the voice of your torturer?" 

"Yes Ma'am," said Dawn. "The fourth one: 'And the mome raths outgrabe.'" 

"Let the record show that Miss Summers has identified the voice of Aloysius Zabini," said Ms Bones. 

"It so shows," said Professor Dumbledore. 

"The Prosecution has no more questions for this witness," said Ms Bones. She returned to her seat behind one of the tables. 

"Very well," said Professor Dumbledore. "Does the Defense have any questions?" 

A wizard got up from behind the other table, and slowly came toward Dawn. "You never saw the face of the man who tortured you," he said. 

"That's right," said Dawn. 

"You were unable to give any description of him more precise than 'maybe tall, and sort of medium build'?" 

"Yes," said Dawn. 

"Can you point at that man…" He pointed toward Aloysius Zabini. "…and say that he is the man who tortured you?" 

"No, I can't," said Dawn. "If I could hear him talk, I might be able to." 

"No further questions!" said the wizard. 

"The witness is excused," said Professor Dumbledore. 

Dawn stood, and the Auror who had brought her in escorted her from the courtroom. He led her around to another door that led into a short flight of stairs that took her up into the visitor's gallery. Dawn saw that room had been made for her between Buffy and Moody. Tonks was just being sworn in as she took her seat. 

Tonks testified about how Zabini had been captured in the dungeons of Voldemort's stronghold, in possession of his wand, and the sequence of spells that the _Prior Incantato_ had shown had been cast by it. She also testified about how Dawn had correctly identified his voice in the previous test, and not identified anyone from the set of bottles without his voice. 

Zabini's defense wizard questioned Tonks about every detail of her testimony, looking for the smallest discrepancies. Something he hadn't done with Dawn. "Didn't want to make the jury hate him," rumbled Moody when Dawn asked him about that. "Attacking the victim would just make them want to convict him, along with Zabini." 

The next witness called was Madam Pomfrey. She testified about the condition Dawn had been in when she returned to Hogwarts. The defense wizard tried to get her to say that she was exaggerating how badly off Dawn had been, but Madam Pomfrey would have none of that: "If that girl's core temperature had dropped another couple of degrees, I might not have been able to save her! That's on top of having undergone the Cruciatus Curse, and not being given anything to eat or drink! If we hadn't gotten Dawn back when we did, this would be a murder trial!" 

Madam Pomfrey was excused, and Professor Dumbledore asked Ms Bones if she had any more witnesses. She stood up behind her table. "The Prosecution rests, Your Honour." 

"Very well," said Dumbledore. He looked to the defense wizard. "Does the Defense have any witnesses to call?" 

"Just one, Your Honour," said the wizard. "The defense calls the Defendant, Aloysius Zabini!" 

"Desperation move," muttered Moody. "They're gonna try the old 'Imperius defense.' Mark my words." 

"'Imperius defense'?" asked Buffy. 

"He's going to claim to have been acting under an Imperius curse, and not in control of his actions," said Moody. "Codswallop!" 

Moody wasn't wrong. The defense wizard led Zabini through a lengthy description of how he had been placed under the Imperius Curse, and all the things that he had been forced to do. "It was horrible!" he said. "I couldn't help myself! It was like I was a prisoner in my own body, watching as it did all these horrible things! I didn't _want_ to hurt the girl, but he _made_ me!" 

"He?" asked the defense wizard. 

"Lord V-V-V— The Dark Lord," said Zabini. 

"Codswallop!" said Moody, a little too loudly. 

It drew a sharp look from Professor Dumbledore. "I would admonish the gallery to keep its opinions to itself." There was a look in Dumbledore's eyes though that made Dawn think that the Professor agreed with Moody. 

The defense wizard returned to questioning Zabini: "So, you do not deny that it was you who tortured Miss Summers." 

Zabini hung his head. "No, it was me…I have nightmares about it…but I couldn't control myself." 

"No further questions." The defense wizard went back to his seat. 

Amelia Bones stood up. "So, you were acting under the Imperius Curse when you did those things to Miss Summers." 

"Yes," said Zabini. 

"I'm having a feeling of deja-vu," said Bones. "I seem to recall you saying much the same thing in this court room fifteen years ago." 

"I…I'm weak," said Zabini. "I was found not-guilty then." 

"Yes…well that defense worked once, so why not try it again?" Bones consulted a few papers on her table. "After your last trial, you were required to take training in resisting the Imperius Curse, were you not?" 

"Uh…yes, I was." 

Amelia Bones waved a piece of parchment. "It says here that you received top marks…you left that training with an 'Outstanding' grade." 

"Yes…but…but…you have to keep practicing…and I was lax…and Vol— The Dark Lord is powerful." 

"Hmm…I suppose so," said Bones. "So when you took part in that little bit of Muggle Baiting at the Quidditch World Cup a couple of years ago, you were under the influence of Voldemort's Imperius Curse?" 

"Yes, I wa— Wait!" 

"Voldemort had you under his power, even before he rose again?" asked Ms Bones. 

"No! I mean—" 

"You were acting of your own free will then?" 

"Objection!" called the defense wizard. "The prosecution is arguing facts not in evidence!" 

"Sustained," said Professor Dumbledore. 

Amelia Bones smiled, and nodded toward Dumbledore. Her point had been made with the jury. "I have no further questions." She returned to her seat. 

"Very well," said Dumbledore. "The Defendant may step down. Does the Defense have any other witnesses to call?" 

"No, Your Honour, the Defense rests." 

"We will now hear closing arguments," said Professor Dumbledore. "Is the Prosecution ready?" 

Bones stood up. "Yes, Your Honour." 

"You may proceed." 

Bones walked out around her table. "Witches and wizards of the jury, you have a very simple decision to make. Aloysius Zabini does not deny that he is the wizard who tortured Dawn Summers. His defense is that he did so while under the influence of the Imperius Curse. I am not surprised that he is attempting this defense, since it really is the only one available to him. The evidence that it was he who used the Cruciatus Curse against Miss Summers, not once, not twice, but six times, is overwhelming. 

"And the Imperius defense has worked for him before, as it worked for many wizards in the past. Many of those wizards have since shown their true colours, just as Aloysius Zabini has. 

"And it wasn't a simple torture that Aloysius Zabini was engaged in with Miss Summers. It was an interrogation. An attempt to locate something that Voldemort coveted greatly. An interrogation is not something that you entrust to someone under the Imperius. You want your interrogator to have the full use of his wits. Why would Voldemort, who had many loyal Death Eaters, entrust something as vital as this interrogation to someone who couldn't carry it out properly? 

"There is an old saying: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Do not let Aloysius Zabini fool us twice. Thank you." 

Amelia Bones returned to her chair. The defense wizard got to his feet. Dawn saw that he wasn't looking forward to this. "Witches and wizards of the jury, my client is a fool. He is also a weak willed man, who easily fell under the influence of Voldemort, and his Death Eaters. Yes, he achieved top marks in his training to resist the Imperius Curse, but we all know people who achieved top marks in a classroom, and perform miserably in the real world. Aloysius Zabini is such a man, and it is because of this misfortune that he has twice become a target for Voldemort. 

"But being weak, or being a fool is not a crime. Nor is misfortune. Do not convict this man for things that were not under his control. Thank you." He sat back down. 

Professor Dumbledore consulted his twelve handed watch. "I see that it is time for lunch. We will adjourn now, so we can all get something to eat, and then the jury may deliberate on their decision with full stomachs." 

* * *

There was a nice little restaurant off the Atrium to the Ministry of Magic. Dawn sat at a table with Buffy, Tonks and Moody. A few people had tried to approach them, but one look from Moody had sent them scampering away. 

"So, why not just dose Zabini with Veritaserum, and _then_ ask him if he was under the influence of the Imperius Curse?" asked Dawn. 

"Good question," said Moody. "We'd have done it in my day. Made our jobs much easier, let me tell you." 

"The accused has the right not to be compelled to testify against himself," said Tonks, "So Veritaserum testimony is not allowed in court." 

"But if he's really innocent, wouldn't he _want_ to take it?" asked Buffy. 

"Yes, but then the jury would have to wonder about why anyone _wouldn't_ want to testify using Veritaserum. The mere refusal to take it would be seen as incriminating." 

"As it should be," said Moody. 

"Veritaserum isn't infallible," said Tonks. "There are counter agents that are not easily detectable. Someone who takes the right potion first can lie their arses off after taking Veritaserum." 

"But Professor Dumbledore used it on the three men who attacked me on Valentine's Day," said Dawn. 

"It can, under certain circumstances, be used as a tool in an investigation, but any statements made by witnesses under its influence are still inadmissable," said Tonks. "The same goes for tools like the Veriloquus Sphere. It can't be used in court either. Both can be used by the prosecution in pre-trial interviews of our witnesses, to ensure that we are not presenting perjured testimony, but we can't compel defense witnesses to take it. If we want to show that they're lying we have to do it the hard way." 

* * *

Tonks took Buffy and Dawn up to the Magical Law Enforcement offices after lunch. They dropped in to the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts office, to see Mr. Weasley. Dawn was surprised by how small and dingy the office looked. It had no windows, and there was barely room for the two desks it contained. Mr. Weasley seemed to be wrestling with a nest of snakes when they arrived, but on closer inspection turned out to be a bundle of audio and video cabling, that kept twisting itself into a tangled mess no matter how much Mr. Weasley tried to straighten it out. 

"Wotcher, Arthur!" said Tonks. "You having some troubles?" 

"No…nothing I can't handle…" He tried to separate one of the wires from the mass, but it got away from him, and wrapped itself around his wrist. More wires started to reach for him. It reminded Dawn of the Devil's Snare plants. "Er…maybe I could use a little help." 

Tonks, Buffy and Dawn moved in, and started pulling cables away from him. It took a while but they managed to subdue the mass. Mr. Weasley shoved the whole mess into the top drawer of his filing cabinet, and slammed it shut. 

"So, what was that all about?" asked Tonks. 

"Some joker enchanted the entire stock of one of the largest Muggle stores in London," said Mr. Weasley. "The cables just sit idle on the shelves, but as soon as some Muggle takes them home, and tries to hook them up, they start twisting themselves into a tangled mess." 

"Huh," said Buffy. "And here I thought that was just what naturally happened with them." 

"Hey, Mr. Weasley," said Dawn. "Ron and Ginny said to say 'hi,' if we saw you." 

"How are they?" asked Mr. Weasley. "Their letters home have been even shorter than usual for the past month. Especially Ginny's. Molly's worried." 

"They're fine…just a little busy, what with exams coming up and all. Ginny's starting her OWLs in a couple of weeks, and she's been going a little nuts." 

"Ah, yes, well Molly will never forgive me if I don't invite you for dinner tonight." 

"Thanks for the invite," said Buffy, "But we have to get Dawn back to the school early. Ron and Ginny aren't the only ones who have to study." 

Dawn's glare at Buffy was interrupted by a ringing coming from Tonks' wrist. She looked at her own multi-handed watch. "Oh! The jury's coming back! That didn't take long. Gotta run, Arthur!" 

* * *

The gallery was nearly full again when Buffy, Dawn and Tonks got back to the courtroom. The defense and prosecution tables were gone, as was the witness box. There was just the single empty chair sitting out in the middle of the floor. Aloysius Zabini was escorted into the room by a pair of Aurors who made him sit down in it. He looked so tiny and frightened that for a moment Dawn started to feel a little sorry for him…but only for a moment. 

The witches and wizards of the Wizengamot filed into the courtroom next. After they were seated, the jury was led in. 

Albus Dumbledore rose from his seat. "Witches and wizards of the jury, have you reached your decision?" 

The witch on the right end of the jury rose to her feet. "We have, Your Honour." 

"And what is your decision?" asked Dumbledore. 

"We find the Defendant guilty on all charges," said the witch. 

Zabini's cry of anguish was drowned out by the cheers from the gallery. Dumbledore's voice rose above all the others "_Silence!_" Dawn saw a flash of anger in his eyes, as a stunned silence fell over the courtroom. "This is not an occasion for celebration. Aloysius Zabini, please stand." 

Zabini rose from the chair, but stood hunched over. 

"Do you have anything to say before I pass sentence?" asked Dumbledore. 

"I— I—" For a moment it looked like Zabini was about to protest his innocence, but in the end he just sighed, and shook his head in resignation. "No….no, Your Honour." 

"Very well," said Dumbledore. "In addition to several lesser charges, you have been found guilty of performing the Unforgivable Cruciatus Curse no less than six times on Dawn Summers. There can only be one sentence for that crime. You are sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban, for each instance, to be served concurrently. This court is adjourned." 

A fresh wave of cheers and applause swept around the gallery. Dawn didn't join in it. She mostly just felt relief that it was over. She looked toward Professor Dumbledore, and saw that he was looking at her. He nodded his head slightly toward her, and she nodded back to acknowledge him before her view was cut off by people crowding around to congratulate her. Dawn found that she really understood what Dumbledore said, about this not being grounds to celebrate. 

One witch pushed herself to the front of the people who were crowding around her. She had blonde hair done up in tight curls, rhinestone studded glasses, and acid green robes. She was carrying a scroll of parchment, and a quill pen. "Miss Summers! How do you feel about the outcome of the trial?" 

"Uh…relieved it's over, I guess," said Dawn. 

"Are you happy with the verdict?" 

"I'm glad he won't be able to hurt anyone else," said Dawn. 

Tonks pushed her way between Dawn and the woman. "Geroff, Skeeter! Leave the girl alone!" 

Rita Skeeter ignored Tonks, except to try to get around her. "Is it true that you're Harry Potter's girlfriend? Aren't you older than he is?" 

"Where's Moody when you need him?" asked Tonks under her breath. "No one does this when he's around." She took Dawn's arm and started to pull her toward the stairs down from the gallery. "Come on, let's get you out of here." 

Between Tonks official robes, and a few well placed elbows from Buffy, they managed to make it to the stairs. Tonks took them through a hidden door when they got to the bottom. She closed it behind them, and leaned back against it. "Of all the people that Voldemort killed, _why_ didn't he start with the press?" 

"Then there'd be no one to tell anyone about what a big bad he was," said Buffy. 

"You think?" 

"Yeah, being a secret big bad is no fun. You have to be able to brag about it, to have people all suitably cowed by you." 

"I suppose…but it was so much nicer when that Skeeter woman was on her 'sabbatical.' I wish I knew what Granger had on her." 

"She was an unregistered Animagus," said Dawn. 

"Really?" asked Tonks. "That's good for a healthy fine." 

"But she's registered now," said Dawn. "She told people she took the time off to study, and she got herself properly registered." 

"Still, knowing she was a practicing Animagus _before_ she got registered should be good for something," said Tonks. 

"And I see why you got a barely passing grade in your Auror ethics course," came Professor Dumbledore's voice. Dawn turned and saw him entering the room through another door. He had changed out of his Wizengamot robes, and was wearing his more usual colourful Headmaster's robes. The sparkle was back in his eyes. 

"Come on, Professor," said Tonks. "Aren't there days when you wish you could ship Skeeter and the rest of the _Daily Prophet_ staff off to Azkaban?" 

"They are annoying, at times," said Dumbledore, "but a free press is infinitely preferable to the alternative. The Ministry already has too much power over what they publish…mostly because they are lazy, and just print everything the Ministry feeds them." 

"So that's it?" asked Dawn. "It's all over?" 

"Oh no," said Dumbledore. "It's a long way from 'over,' but I think that your part in it is done, for now. You can turn your attention back to your school work." 

"Uh…yes sir," said Dawn. 

Dumbledore consulted his watch again. "If we leave now, we can get you back to the school in time for your Muggle Studies class." 


	59. End of Term

Things had cooled down at Hogwarts between the attack on Voldemort and the Zabini trial, but they heated up again the next morning when the account of the trial appeared in the _Daily Prophet_. Dawn felt like every eye was on her as she entered the Great Hall for breakfast, but people quickly turned away when she looked in their direction. This time she couldn't downplay what had happened to her, and Rita Skeeter's 'exposé' about her and Harry's relationship didn't help either. 

Hermione put her copy of the paper back down on the table. "I should have left her in the bottle." 

"It's not that bad," said Harry. "At least this time she's more or less got the facts straight." He looked around the Great Hall. "And it's not like it's coming as news to anyone here. I'm kinda surprised it's taken her this long." 

Ron decided to change the subject. "So, Dawn, are you signed up for apparating lessons?" 

"Yeah, I put my name down last night." She looked at Harry. "Too bad you can't join us." 

Harry smiled back at her. "Hermione and I will just have to wait till the fall." 

"So, how do they teach apparating, in a school where you can't apparate?" asked Dawn. 

"Professor Flitwick's classroom is charmed to allow apparating within it," said Hermione. "You can't apparate into, or out of it, but you can apparate from one side to the other." 

"Makes it easy to find all the pieces when the students splinch themselves," said Ron. "Fred and George managed to split themselves up a couple of times, and I'm still not sure if they got put back together right. I think Fred might be walking around on George's legs." 

"Once you can apparate across the room without splinching yourself, they take you into Hogsmeade for longer distance practice," said Harry. 

"So what are you guys going to be doing, while we're apparating?" asked Dawn. 

"Studying," said Hermione, at the same time as Harry said "Extra Quidditch practice." Ginny looked torn between the two. 

"The season is almost over!" said Dawn. "Why the extra practice?" 

"I really want to beat Ravenclaw," said Harry. "Even if we don't stand much of a chance of winning the cup, we'll still be able to say that we beat the team that did." 

* * *

Dawn settled into her seat beside Blaise in the Potions dungeon. "'Morning." 

Blaise was looking rather uncomfortable…worse than she'd looked that day in the library, a month ago. "Uh…Hi Dawn." 

"How's it going?" 

"Um…alright…I guess. I'm really sorry." 

"What for?" asked Dawn, though she was pretty sure she knew the answer. 

Blaise looked down, refusing to meet Dawn's gaze. "For what my uncle did to you." 

"Not your fault," said Dawn. 

"But still—" 

"Old saying," said Dawn. "You can pick your friends. You can't pick your relatives. What he did has nothing to do with you." 

"But—" 

"Forget about it! I'm fine now!" Dawn paused, while Blaise just looked at her. "Okay, I find this dungeon even creepier than I did before, and I _really_ don't like being in small rooms anymore, and Madam Pomfrey tells me that my finger is probably always going to be a little stiff, and it aches a bit on days when it's going to rain, but I just want to forget about all that. So, what new torture does Professor Snape have for us today?" 

Blaise flinched a bit at the sound of the word 'torture.' "I uh, really don't know." 

"What's the use of having the man as your head of house, if you can't get some advance warning about what he's planning to do to us?" asked Dawn. 

Blaise allowed herself to smile. "So, does McGonagall give you advanced warning for what she's going to be doing to us in Transfiguration?" 

* * *

As the week wore on, people stopped looking away when Dawn entered the room, and instead of being greeted by sudden silences, people continued on with their conversations…usually about the upcoming Quidditch match. Everyone expected it to be the best game of the season. The two teams were pretty evenly matched, with both of them favouring a fast flying game with skillful Quaffle handling, rather than the brute force approach taken by Slytherin. Eric's pool for the game was giving nearly even odds. Ravenclaw was slightly favoured for points scored with the Quaffle, but Ginny was favoured to catch the Snitch. Professor Trelawney predicted that it would be raining that day. 

The weather was perfect when Dawn and Hermione sat down together in the stands on the final Saturday in May. The sky was a cloudless blue, and the sun was warm on their faces. The Ravenclaw and Gryffindor Quidditch teams were out flying laps around the pitch. Three quarters of the school was there to watch the game. The Slytherin section of the stands was rather sparsely populated, but nearly everyone else seemed to be there. There was no clear favourite among the fans. The Hufflepuffs seemed to be split about 50:50 between cheering for the two teams. Even a few of the Slytherins were cheering for Gryffindor, after the humiliation that Ravenclaw had handed their team a month earlier. 

Madam Hooch blew her whistle, and tossed the Quaffle into the air to start the game. It quickly became apparent that all of the people expecting a fast, action packed game were not going to be disappointed. Both teams were in top form, and they flew to and fro across the pitch at breakneck speeds, passing the Quaffle between them. Rob Harding's commentary on the game got a little confused sometimes during some sequences where Roger Davies and Laurie Davis made several quick passes back and forth between each other in attempts to confuse the Gryffindor defense. After the second time he got Davies and Davis backwards while shouting "Davies to Davis to Davies!" he switched to using their first names. They were more successful at confusing Rob than they were Ron though. Neither team seemed to be able to score. Both Ron, and Ravenclaw Keeper made several spectacular saves. 

Laurie was the first to score. Roger managed to fool Ron with a feint to the left hoop, before quickly passing to Laurie. She had seemed to be tied up dodging bludgers being fired at her by Jack and Andrew, but she managed to break past them at the last instant, and into position to take the pass and score on the right. Gryffindor came back with a goal scored by Colin Creevey, followed up quickly by another scored by Harry. The lead see-sawed back and forth several times, with neither team getting more than two goals ahead of the other. The fans in the stands were cheering themselves hoarse. 

Dean Thomas got so tired of yelling that he started using his wand to send up a shower or red and gold sparks instead of cheering. Several more Gryffindors joined in, and then the Ravenclaws responded with blue and bronze sparks of their own. Waves of red and gold, and blue and bronze surged up and down the stands with the Chasers racing back and forth across the pitch. 

A roar went up, starting in the Hufflepuff section of the stands. The Snitch had appeared over them. Ginny and Cho were both at the far end of the pitch, and took off toward it, but it vanished again, to wherever Snitches vanished to, before they could reach it. A groan of disappointment went through all the spectators. It was quickly replaced by cheers and red and gold sparks from the Gryffindor stands as Lavender scored, and tied up the game again. 

It was mid afternoon when the Snitch appeared again. This time Ginny spotted it before anyone in the stands, and she took off after it, with Cho following an instant later. The Snitch dove and wove through the Chasers over the pitch with Ginny and Cho right behind it, but this time it didn't get away. Ginny snatched it out of the air, accompanied by a roar from the crowd, and a burst of red and gold sparks. The final score was 230 to 60 for Gryffindor, which was far short of the 390 point lead they needed to take the Quidditch Cup for that season. 

Both teams landed their brooms in front of the section of the stands from which the Professors had been watching the game. Ginny received hugs, kisses and backslaps from her teammates for catching the snitch. Roger Davies came up to Harry and stuck out his hand. "Good game, Potter!" 

Harry clasped his hand. "You too, and congratulations on winning the cup." 

Roger gave him a bit of a lop sided smile. "It could have been yours, if Slytherin hadn't rolled over and played dead for us." 

"Don't worry about it," said Harry. "We'll win it back next year…Ravenclaw will be the house with an almost entirely new team." 

"You better hope so, Potter," came Professor McGonagall's voice. "I quite like having this in my study." 

Harry turned and saw that McGonagall had come down onto the pitch, carrying the Quidditch Cup. She turned to Professor Flitwick, who had accompanied her. "Well, Filius, take good care of it," she said with a smile. "I expect to get it back in at least as good condition as it is now." She handed the cup to Professor Flitwick, who nearly tumbled over under its weight. The trophy was bigger than the tiny Professor. 

Roger Davies rushed forward to steady the cup. "Here, Professor. Let me." He lifted the trophy out of the Professor's hands, and held it up over his head. 

A roar went up from the Ravenclaw section of the stands. Polite applause came from the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs. The Slytherins mostly kept quiet. One of the few exceptions was Rob Harding, who seemed to be cheering as enthusiastically as the Ravenclaws…with the benefit of having his voice amplified so he was making almost as much noise on his own as the entire Ravenclaw section. 

Roger passed the cup off to Cho, and he picked up Professor Flitwick and placed him on his shoulder. They started to lead a parade up toward the castle. 

The stands emptied out as most of the students followed after the Ravenclaw team. Harry and the Gryffindor team hung behind, and their friends gathered around them. Dawn came up to Harry and gave him a hug. "Well, I guess that's it for Quidditch for this year. Are you disappointed?" 

"Not much," said Harry. "Quidditch is fun, but it's not my life. There are a lot more important things." 

Dawn pulled back a bit, and frowned at him. "All right. Who are you, and what have you done with the real Harry Potter?" 

Harry laughed. "I think he's grown up a bit." 

"Not too much, I hope," said Ron. He was standing with his arm around Hermione's waist. 

"Nyah," said Harry. "Come on guys! Tonight's our last chance for a good party, before exams start. Ravenclaw may have won the cup, but we still whipped their asses!" 

"Arses, mate," said Ron. "You've been hanging out with that Yank too much." 

"And I intend to keep doing it." Harry swung his broom into position. "Come on Dawn, I'll give you a lift up to the castle." 

Dawn smiled. She couldn't help thinking something very phallic as she climbed onto Harry's broom in front of him. "So…you ever given a girl a ride before?" 

Harry's hands came around her waist to grasp the handle. "Nope. You're my first." 

"I think we better take it easy, then." 

"Don't worry. I'll be gentle." Dawn could hear the laugh in Harry's voice. He knew what they sounded like too. They slowly rose off the ground together. 

* * *

Harry entered Professor Dumbledore's office. His usually neat desk was covered with rolls of parchment. He looked up at Harry and smiled. 

Harry hesitated for a moment before he spoke. "Er, I can come back later, if you're busy, sir." 

Dumbledore's smile broadened. "No, no, stay. I could use a break from all of this." He waved his hand over the desk. "I'll be glad when we finish all the trials, and I can get back to just the mountain of paperwork it takes to keep the school running. What did you want to see me about?" 

"I was just wondering, sir, do I _have_ to go back to the Dursleys this summer?" Harry was afraid that he sounded very close to whining. He tried keep his voice level. "Now that Voldemort is dead, I don't really need the protection of staying with my relatives." 

"I understand your reluctance, but there are still Death Eaters out there who have not been captured. It still isn't very safe for you." 

"I'd think that, after what happened to their boss, they'd want to stay far away from me," said Harry. 

"Yes, true, if they were rational people, but for the most part, they are not." 

"And there are places just as safe as the Dursleys'," said Harry. "Grimmauld Place, for example. I do own it now." 

"I somehow don't think it is Grimmauld Place that you were planning to go to," said Professor Dumbledore. 

"Er…no. Willow said that she would introduce me to her coven, teach me more about how to handle this new magic of mine. Mr. Giles said I could stay with him." 

"And Dawn," said Dumbledore. 

"And Dawn," said Harry. "And Buffy and Kennedy will be there…and a few other Slayers. They've invited Ginny and Professor Lupin too, for more Slayer and Watcher training. Lots of people to protect me from Death Eaters." 

"You will be seventeen at the end of July," said Professor Dumbledore. 

"Er…uh…yeah?" Harry wondered where Dumbledore was going with that. 

"You will be of age," said Professor Dumbledore. "At which time, where you live will not be anything that I, or anyone from the Ministry either for that matter, has any say over." 

"You're saying that I have to stick it out until then?" asked Harry. 

"I'm saying that until then, the Dursleys are your legal guardians." Professor Dumbledore looked at his desk again. "Even if we wanted to change that, the Ministry is so backed up in paperwork right now that it would probably take a year." 

"So I just have to wait a month," said Harry. 

"Or you could ask the Dursleys." Professor Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "If they give permission for you to stay with friends over the summer, I don't think anyone will raise any objections." 

* * *

Ron looked around the yellow and black decorated Great Hall. "So tell me again how Hufflepuff wound up winning the House Cup?" 

"They kept studying and working while you guys were all too busy celebrating the death of Voldemort to keep up with your school work properly," said Hermione. 

"Oh, right," said Ron. "They've got a completely skewed sense of priorities." 

"They're not the ones with the skewed priorities," said Hermione. 

"Are to," said Ron. "How many times in a person's lifetime is the worst Dark wizard of the age defeated?" 

"At least twice," said Harry. 

"And this is the first year since I was ten that there hasn't been an apocalypse for Buffy to avert," said Dawn. "Also a good reason to party instead of work." 

"If we're supposed to be partying, where's the food?" asked Ron. 

"I think we're still waiting for Professor Dumbledore," said Hermione. 

"Where is he?" asked Neville. 

"He's been pretty busy lately," said Harry. "He said something about running the Wizengamot being like herding cats." 

The door of the teacher's entrance opened, and Professor Dumbledore appeared in it. He moved quickly to his seat at the center of the high table. He remained standing as he looked out over the students. "I'm sorry I'm late, so I will spare you from any sort of opening comments." He waved his hand, and the tables filled with food. "Tuck in!" 

* * *

Platform nine and three quarters was its usual madhouse of kids trying to find their parents, parents trying to find their kids, and friends bidding joyful—or tearful—goodbyes to friends, with many promises to owl over the summer. The screeches of owls, and the caterwauling of cats accented the din. 

Harry pushed a cart carrying his trunk, and Hedwig's cage along the platform. Dawn was beside him, pulling her trunk, with Yanka's cage lashed to the top of it. Ron had his and Ginny's trunks, and Pigwidgeon on the cart he was pushing, and Hermione pushed her own cart along beside him. "Why am _I_ pushing this?" asked Ron. "Ginny's the one with the super strength." 

"Yeah, but I'm under cover," said Ginny. "Besides, would you want all of your friends knowing that I'm stronger than you?" 

They paused when they met Jack and Andrew. "Well, it was good playing with you guys this year," said Harry. "Keep in touch." 

"We will, Harry," said Jack. "And win the cup for us next year!" 

"It'll be easier without him hitting bludgers at the wrong team," said Andrew. 

"Hey, _I'm_ not the one who nearly knocked Brown off her broom!" 

"No, you're the one who nearly knocked Weasley off hers!" 

"Hey, at least I can blame that on the blizzard!" said Jack. "Couldn't see a ruddy thing! You did it in clear weather!" 

"_You're_ the one who did that?" asked Ginny. "I thought it was Goyle." 

"I was aiming at Goyle," said Jack, "but I missed." 

Harry laughed. "I take it back. I'll be happy to be playing with some new Beaters next year." 

"Randall and Allan are good kids," said Andrew. "They'll do you proud. We would have won this year, if the breaks had gone a different way." 

"If wishes were broomsticks, Muggles would fly," said Harry. "You make your own luck." 

"That you do, and you made us lots of luck with You Know Who," said Jack. "See you around!" He and Andrew started to disappear into the throng. 

"Not if I see you first!" Harry called after them. They just laughed and waved as the crowd swallowed them. He turned back to Dawn. "So, have you spotted Buffy yet?" 

"No. She's too damn short! Oh, look, there's Bill!" 

Ginny and Ron spun around. "Where?" 

Dawn pointed. "Over there…and I can't make them out but there are some shorter red haired people with him." Bill Weasley's head rose above most of the others in the shifting crowd. An opening parted for a moment and Dawn could see that most of the Weasley clan was there to greet their returning children. "Come on!" She wrapped one arm around Harry's waist, and grabbed the handle of her trunk with the other. "They'll give Buffy a beacon to home in on!" 

They started moving through the crowd. Dawn soon saw that Buffy had already homed in on the Weasleys, as had the Grangers. Buffy hugged Dawn as Mrs. Weasley hugged and fussed over her returning children and Harry, and Hermione hugged her parents. 

Dawn let go of her sister. "You bring it?" she asked. 

Buffy pulled a gift wrapped box out of her bag. "I brought it." She handed it over to Dawn. 

"What's that?" asked Harry. 

Dawn handed it to him. "A present." 

Harry hesitated for a moment. "You shouldn't have." 

"Yes I should have," said Dawn. "Now take it, and open it." 

"I didn't get you anything." 

"I'm sure you will fix that oversight, at some time in the future," said Dawn. "Now, you are not getting out of here until you open it." 

"Alright." Harry started to carefully unwrap the box. 

"It'll take forever that way," said Ron. "Just tear into it!" 

Harry got the box unwrapped, without tearing the paper, and lifted the lid to look inside. "A cell phone?" 

"A Willow Special," said Dawn. "Guaranteed to work anywhere. Now you've got no excuses for not calling me." 

"I won't need excuses." Harry blushed. "I mean, I'm going to call, so there will be no need for them." He pushed a couple of buttons, and saw that Dawn's number was already programmed into it. "Thank you." 

"You're welcome," said Dawn. "I expect to hear from you as soon as you've talked to the Dursleys about spending the summer with us. If I don't hear from you before ten, I'm sending Buffy in to rescue you." 

Buffy looked around. "So, um, where are these Dursleys?" 

"Oh, you'll never see them in here," said Ron. "Even if they'd try to cross, I don't think the barrier would let them." 

"They should be waiting on the other side," said Harry. 

Dean Thomas came by, with a man that Dawn assumed must be his father. "I'm on my way," he told them. "See all you guys in the fall." He gave Ginny a hug. "Bye Gin!" 

"Bye Dean! Be seeing you!" She waved as Dean and his Dad walked off toward the barrier. 

"That's it?" asked Buffy. "You guys seemed pretty serious at New Years." 

Ginny shrugged. "Dean's nice, but I don't think he's for me. I never felt close enough to tell him about…you know." She looked around the platform, and saw Neville with his grandmother. "I think I'm going to give Neville a try next year." 

"Ah!" cried Ron. "Don't tell me such things! I was just getting used to the idea of you and Dean!" 

They joined the line of people exiting the platform with Dawn firmly attached to Harry's side. Once they got off platform nine and three quarters the returning Hogwarts students and their families quickly merged with the busy Saturday afternoon traffic in King's Cross station. 

Dawn felt Harry tense up. She glanced at him, and saw that he was staring at something ahead of them. She followed his gaze and saw a large man with a ruddy complexion, a moustache, and almost no neck scowling in their direction. There was a large boy standing beside him, who was obviously his son. If she'd seen the boy back home in Sunnydale Dawn would've figured that he was probably on the school football team…one of the linemen. He had a look about him that she'd seen on a lot of school jocks, like he thought he could get away with anything. "The Dursleys?" she asked quietly. 

"Two of them, anyway," said Harry. Dawn could feel his discomfort. He tried to pull away from her. 

Dawn wouldn't let him. The boy's look seemed to have settled on her, and she didn't like it. She could feel him mentally undressing her. It made her feel very creepy. 

"So, why don't you introduce us to your relatives?" asked Buffy. Dawn could hear the dangerous edge in her voice. 

"Alright," said Harry, but Dawn could hear the reluctance in his voice. She still didn't let go of him as they moved toward the Dursleys. 

Harry stopped a few feet short of his uncle and cousin. "Hello Uncle Vernon, Dudley." 

Buffy put on her most insincere smile. "Aren't you going to introduce us, Harry?" 

"Oh, er, Uncle Vernon, this is my girlfriend, Dawn Summers, and her sister Buffy." 

Buffy stuck out her hand. "How do you do?" 

Vernon looked at Buffy's hand with obvious distaste, but he slowly reached out to take it. He intended it to be a brief handshake, but once Buffy had taken hold of his hand, she wouldn't let go. Her smile turned predatory. "I hear that you've already been threatened by some of Harry's friends if—you know—you mistreat him in any way. I just want you to know that I'm on the list too." She tightened her grip slightly, and Harry saw sweat start to break out on his uncle's face. 

Buffy finally let go, and Vernon stood flexing his fingers, trying to get the feeling back in them. She turned to Dawn and Harry and smiled…this time it was genuine. "Time for you two to say goodbye." 

Dawn dropped the handle of her trunk, so she could hug Harry properly with both arms. "God, I'll miss you. Don't forget to phone." 

Harry's arms went around her. "I won't." He kissed her tenderly on the lips. Dawn's hold on him tightened, and she deepened the kiss. Only the thought of all the eyes on them kept Harry's hands from moving down off her back. 

"Break it up, you two," said Buffy. "You'll be seeing each other again, soon enough. Dawn, we have to get going. The traffic is going to be awful, this time of day." 

Harry and Dawn let go of each other reluctantly. He smiled and reached out to touch her lips with his finger. "Bye. I'll call from the Dursleys'." 

Buffy had picked up the handle to Dawn's trunk, and she took hold of her sister's elbow with her other hand. She started to gently pull her away. "Bye Harry. See you soon." 

"Bye, Buffy." Harry waved as they disappeared into the crowd. The last thing he saw was Dawn's hand waving back at him over the heads of some people. 

"Cor! What a piece of tail!" said Dudley. 

Harry snapped around to glare at his cousin. "You talk about her that way again, and you'll have one! Again!" 

Dudley suddenly looked frightened. "But…but…you can't do magic away from that place!" 

"I'm not supposed to, before I'm seventeen," said Harry. "That's not very far away…" He looked toward his uncle. "And Buffy…she could have broken every bone in your hand, if she wanted to." He looked back at Dudley. "She could rip your arms off, and beat you to death with them." He looked back and forth between his uncle and cousin, enjoying the looks on their faces. "So, where's the car. We don't want to keep Aunt Petunia waiting, do we?" 

Vernon Dursley sputtered. He looked like he wanted to hit something, but he held his temper in check. He looked around nervously, aware that there were several wizards still very close by. He could see several familiar looking red headed people watching them. He waved in the opposite direction. "It's over that way." 

"Then shouldn't we be going that way?" asked Harry. He wondered if maybe he was enjoying the consternation on his uncle's face a little too much. 

Vernon Dursley tried to recover his gruff demeanour. "Yes…right…get moving Boy! We don't have all day!" 

Harry grabbed the handle of his luggage cart. "Lead the way." He smiled as his uncle turned, and started to walk briskly away. He looked back briefly to wave goodbye to the Weasleys and the Grangers. 

"And I won't have you running up the telephone bill, talking to your _friends!_" said Vernon, without looking back to see if Harry listening, or even following. 

Harry smiled. "Yes Uncle." He pushed his cart along after Vernon Dursley, for the first time actually looking forward to his summer holiday. 

THE END 


End file.
